Psychology  Applied   to   Medicine 


Psychology 
Applied  to  Medicine 

Introductory  Studies 
By 

David  W.  Wells,   M.D. 

M 


Lecturer  on    Mental   Physiology,    and   Assistant 
Ophthalmology,    Boston     University    Medical 
School ;  Ophthalmic  Surgeon,  Massachu- 
setts Homeopathic  Hospital,  Boston; 
Oculist,  Newton  {Mass.) 
Hospital 


Philadelphia 
F.  A.  Davis  Company,  Publishers 

1907 


or  THE  \\ 

UNIVERSiTY  j 


^fft£fl41 


Copyright,  igoj 
By  David  W.  Wells 


'Kz.4~oo 


'JBRMIY 


Preface 


The  present  essay  has  developed  as  a  result  of 
several  years'  experience  lecturing  to  medical  stu- 
dents. 

The  matter  presented  is  an  attempt  to  bridge 
over  the  gap  between  psychology  and  medicine. 
Medical  education  in  the  past  has  undoubtedly 
tended  toward  an  ultramateriaUstic  conception  of 
biology.  The  psychological  aspect  has  been  post- 
poned not  merely  to  a  postgraduate  period,  but 
more  often  to  a  postpractical  period,  —  a  very 
proper  study  for  the  veteran  after  his  years  of  ex- 
perience. 

Psychology  is  no  longer  merely  a  cultural  study, 
but  is  the  means  of  solving  many  practical  problems 
presented  to  the  physician.  The  subject  should 
therefore  be  opened  up  to  the  undergraduate,  at 
least  in  an  elementary  way.  This  gives  him  a  better 
understanding  of  his  own  mental  processes,  which 
will  in  turn  broaden  his  conception  of  the  factors 
which  make  for  health  and  happiness. 

Most  standard  works  on   psychic  matters  pre- 


1GG773 


VI  PREFACE 

suppose  previous  elementary  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject on  the  part  of  the  reader.  With  a  majority  of 
medical  students  this  is  not  the  case,  and  it  is  for 
his  use  especially  that  these  introductory  studies 
are  presented. 

Medical  technicalities  have  been  avoided  as  far 
as  possible,  in  order  that  the  book  may  prove  inter- 
esting to  that  constantly  growing  class  of  the  laity, 
which  recognizes  an  underlying  truth  in  psychic 
therapeutics. 

Free  use  has  been  made  of  the  available  author- 
ities, to  whom,  it  is  hoped,  due  credit  has  been  given. 
It  would  be  presumptuous  to  claim  to  present  many 
new  ideas,  but  it  is  hoped  that  the  grouping  of  facts 
and  theories  may  accomplish  the  purpose  of  the 
author,  namely,  to  prepare  the  reader's  mind  to  take 
up  with  greater  satisfaction  the  many  erudite  and 
comprehensive  works  on  kindred  subjects. 

It  may  seem  to  some  readers  that  too  much  space 
has  been  given  to  the  psychology  of  sight.  In  ex- 
tenuation it  should  be  remembered  that  a  speciaHst 
can  hardly  fail  to  exaggerate  the  importance  of  his 
own  hmited  field  of  practise. 

Three  chapters  have  been  devoted  to  hypnotism 
in  an  attempt  to  sum  up  the  essentials  of  the  history, 
phenomena,  and  theories.  Every  physician  should 
have  a  working  knowledge  of  this  subject,  whatever 
his  opinion  may  be  as  to  the  advisability  of  prac- 
tising it. 

The  great  subject  of  mental  healing  in  its  various 


PREFACE  vu 

forms  is  a  living  issue  which  every  physician  has  to 
meet.  The  proposition  that  "  all  disease  is  mental  " 
seems  so  absurd  to  the  medically  trained  man,  that 
he  is  apt  to  ignore  the  fact  that  some  disease  is  mental. 
It  is  admitted  that  the  profession  has  been  en- 
grossed with  the  physical  side,  discovering  the 
principles  of  hygiene,  aseptic  surgery,  antitoxin, 
scientific  medicine,  etc.  It  has  not  given  attention 
to  the  psychic  side,  but  there  is  evident  an  increased 
interest,  and  a  few  medical  schools  have  estabhshed 
chairs  in  psychotherapeutics. 

D.   W.   W. 
Copley  Square,  Boston,  January ,  igoj. 


Contents 


CHAPTER  I 

REASON   AND   INSTINCT 

Books  recommended:  James,  "  Psychology,"  Henry  Holt; 
Donaldson,  "Growth  of  Brain,"  Scribners;  Sandford, 
"  Experimental  Psychology,"  Heath  ;  Waldstein,  "  The 
Subconscious  Self,"  Scribners ;  Bramwell,  "  Hypnotism," 
Lippincott ;  Sidis,  "  Psychology  of  Suggestion,"  Apple- 
ton  ;  Sidis,  "  Multiple  Personalities,"  Appleton.  —  Mod- 
ern psychology  is  becoming  an  important  branch  of 
medicine,  because  it  is  recognized  that  "  no  mental 
modification  ever  occurs  which  is  not  accompanied  or 
followed  by  bodily  change."  —  Cerebration  is  accompa- 
nied by  a  temporary  association  and  grouping  of  nerve 
cells,  but  thought  is  not  a  physical  matter.  —  Develop- 
ment of  nervous  system  apart  of  organic  evolution. — 
Psychic  missing  Unks.  —  Instincts,  common  to  man  and 
beast.  —  Man  alone  possesses  reason.  —  "No  action  but 
such  as  shows  a  choice  of  means  can  be  called  indu- 
bitable expression  of  mind."  —  Recepts  and  concepts.  — 
Man  has  three  sets  of  impulses  :  (i)  Congenital  reflexes, 
(2)  acquired  reflexes,  (3)  reason         .        .        .        .        1-15 

CHAPTER   II 

HABIT 

Habit.  —  Human  instincts  are  transient  unless  developed 
into  habits.  — "  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  incHnes."  — 
Habits  are  reflex  arcs,  which  like  electric  currents  follow 


CONTENTS 

FAGB 

the  path  of  least  resistance.  —  The  development  of  hab- 
its. —  The  moral  significance.  —  "  Man  is  a  mere  bundle 
of  habits."  —  The  concatenated  impulse ;  economic  value. 

—  Professional  habits.  —  Intelligent  reading  is  wise  skip- 
ping. —  The  conscious  and  subconscious ;  relationship.  — 
The  "  Moment  Consciousness."  —  Sleep  a  dissociation  of 
few  or  many  nerve  centers.  —  Dreams  are  sleeping  hallu- 
cinations ;  duration  short.  — Caused  by  some  centripetal 
stimulus,  somatic  or  external.  —  Infinite  resources  of  the 
subconscious.  —  Wonderful  memory ;  how  to  utilize  it. 

—  A  possible  explanation  of  genius.  —  Geniuses  not  well 
balanced.  —  Mental  epidemics.  —  Concentration  :  in  the 
crowd  but  not  <?/■  it 16-34 

CHAPTER   III 


Sensation.  —  Evolution  of  the  special  senses.  —  Doctrine  of 
relativity  :  noumenon,  phenomenon.  —  Limitations  of 
sense  perception.  —  The  threshold. — The  greatness  and 
littleness  of  human  intellect.  —  Special  senses,  a  refine- 
ment of  tactile  sense.  —  The  outward  reference  of  sensa- 
tion. —  The  correlation  of  the  senses.  —  Visual  percep- 
tions. —  The  inverted  retinal  image,  current  explanation 
of  erect  vision  :  tactile  experience  reinverts  visual  sensa- 
tion; incorrect,  because  not  analogous  to  other  special 
senses.  —  First  sight  of  congenitally  blind  is  always  erect. 
—  Mr.  Hanna's  experience.  —  Man  ignorant  of  retinal 
image.  Each  mathematical  point  of  object  is  referred 
back  to  its  proper  place,  and  we  see  not  the  retinal  image, 
but  the  object  itself  in  space 35-54 

CHAPTER   IV 

EXPERIMENTAL  PSYCHOLOGY 

The  blind  spots;  the  two  optic  discs.  —  Retinal  shadows: 
erect,  because  cast  by  objects  too  near  the  eye  to  form 
image  on  retina ;  outward  projection  of,  produces  inverted 
image.  —  Outward    reference    of    tactile   sense;   flexible 


CONTENTS  XI 

PAGE 

cane.  —  Monocular  estimation  of  distance.  —  Difficult 
without  parallax.  —  Law  of  corresponding  points.  —  Each 
ganglion  cell  two  neurons,  divide  for  both  retinae.  —  Ori- 
entation, with  prism.  —  Diplopia: — physiological  at  dis- 
tances farther  or  nearer  than  point  fixed.  —  Analogy  of 
digital  tactile  sense.  —  Binocular  estimation  of  distance. 
—  Fusing  successive  double  images.  —  Coordination  of 
convergence  and  accommodation.  —  Stereoscopic  per- 
spective. —  Pictures  correspond  to  right  and  left  retinal 
images.  —  Convergence  required  to  fuse,  determines  dis- 
tance ;  convergence  excessive,  nearness ;  convergence 
slight,  distance.  —  May  overcome  mathematical  perspec- 
tive. —  Binocular  vision  an  acquired  faculty.  —  Fusion 
training.  —  The  amblyoscope. —  Phoro-optometer  stereo- 
scope. —  Controlled  reading 5S~^S 


CHAPTER  V 

HYPNOSIS — HISTORICAL 

Hypnotism.  —  Historical.  —  Neuro  -  hypnotist^.  —  Nerve 
sleep,  so  called  by  Braid,  1843.  —  Phenomena  are  as  old 
as  civilization.  —  Early  religions  show  many  instances. — 
Evident  in  religious  fanaticism  of  to-day.  —  Mesmer.  — 
"De  Planetarium  Influxa,"  1776.  —  The  action  and  virtue 
of  animal  magnetism.  —  The  Paris  establishment  ;  mys- 
tery. —  Investigation  by  Academy  of  Sciences :  "  Not 
worthy  of  further  scientific  investigation."  —  Second  in- 
vestigation of  mesmerism.  —  Eliotson,  1837,  University 
Hosp.,  London.  —  Resignation  and  publication  of  journal. 
—  Esdaile,  1845,  India.  —  Painless  surgery.  —  Braid,  1843, 
"  Neurypnology."  —  Rechristened  "  Hypnotism."  —  Re- 
sult of  subjective  causes.  —  Liebeault,  1864,  Nancy,  so- 
called  "school." — Charcot,  1878,  Salpetriere  school. — 
Society  for  Psychic  Research,  1882,  International.  — 
Bramwell,  England,  best  living  exponent.  —  Quacken- 
boss,  New  York,  moral  reformation.  —  Morton  Prince, 
Boston,  multiple  personalities.  —  Petersen,  Boston,  trans- 
lator of  Wetterstrand.  —  Sidis,  Brookline,  "Psychology 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

of  Suggestion,"  "Psycho-pathological  Researches,"  "Mul- 
tiple Personality."  —  Methods  of  hypnotizing.  —  Physical 
means  not  essential  but  useful.  —  Patient  should  be  told 
what  to  expect.  —  Narcotics  and  anesthetics.  —  Suscep- 
tibility, almost  universal.  —  Well-balanced  individuals 
best  subjects.  —  Hysterical  and  weak-willed  difiScult.  — 
Hypnotism  a  physiological  function  .         .         .       66-80 

CHAPTER   VI 

HYPNOSIS  —  PHENOMENA 

Hypnosis.  —  Phenomena.  —  Classification,  difficult  and  some- 
what arbitrary.  —  Mild,  catalepsy,  conclusive  evidence  of 
hypnosis.  —  Deep,  somnambulism,  hallucinations  ac- 
cepted. —  Catalepsy  unwise  to  exceed  at  first  attempt ; 
sufficient  for  slight  analgesia;  sufficient  for  therapeutic 
suggestions.  —  Anesthesia  not  practicable  for  general 
surgery,  because  not  absolute  in  more  than  ten  per  cent. 

—  Character  and  frequency  of  pulse  may  be  controlled. 

—  Suggestibility  increased,  raise  of  threshold.  —  Amnesia 
the  rule,  but  subject  to  suggestion.  —  The  alert  stage, 
seemingly  inconsistent  with  sleep.  —  Hallucinations : 
positive,  negative ;  en  rapport  with  operator,  but  others 
may  be  introduced.  —  Subject  reasons  deductively,  but 
not  inductively.  —  Post-hypnotic  suggestions;  apprecia- 
tion of  time.  —  Automatism,  not  absolute,  subject  may 
refuse  harmless  suggestion.  —  Criminal  suggestions,  pop- 
ular literature  responsible  for  belief  in ;  mistaken  deduc- 
tions from  paper  dagger  experiment.  —  Refinement  of 
moral  sense.  —  The  higher  self  :  avoid  being  deceived.  — 
Precautions  in  conducting  experiments  :  avoid  self- 
deception   81-95 

CHAPTER    Vn 

HYPNOSIS  —  THEORIES 

What  is  hypnotism  ?  — Theories.  —  1766,  Mesmer,  animal 
magnetism.  —  Influence  of  heavenly  bodies.  —  1851, 
Professor  Gregory,   "  Animal    Magnetism."  —  Influence 


CONTENTS  xui 

PAGB 

of  inanimate  bodies.  —  Confirms  Reichenbach's  odylic 
force. — Operator's  will  sufficient  to  control  subject. — 
Defends  phrenology,  but  suggestion  wt//  produce  same 
results. — 1843-55,  Braid,  three  distinct  theories:  (i) 
Physical  theory,  "hypnotism"  manipulation  of  cranium 
produces  characteristic  phenomena  ;  (2)  Substitute  mono- 
ideism  for  hypnotism,  preconceptions  of  subject,  dominant 
ideas,  suggested  by  operator,  magnets,  metals,  and  sealed 
medicines,  inert  except  as  vehicles  of  suggestion;  (3) 
Double  consciousness.  —  Modern  theories.  —  Charcot, 
Salp8triere,  the  discordant  note.  —  Responsible  for  mod- 
ern prejudices.  —  Bernheim,  suggestion,  the  all-sufficiency 
of.  —  Sidis,  laws  of  suggestibility.  —  Myers,  subliminal 
consciousness.  —  Volition,  subject  noi  unconscious.  — 
Supra-normal :  clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  prevision,  tel- 
epathy, the  problem  of  personality     ....    96-107 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS 

Psychotherapeutics.  —  Definition  of  therapeutics.  —  Drugs, 
surgery,  orthopedics,  electricity,  mechanotherapy,  refrac- 
tion, hydrotherapy,  massage,  in  all  a  physical  element.  — 
Psychotherapeutics,  elimination  of  the  physical  agent.  — 
Man  a  suggestible  animal.  —  Historical :  "  Thy  faith  hath 
made  thee  whole;"  royal  touch;  shrines;  prayer  cure; 
Christian  Science;  "mental  healing;"  Whipple,  New 
York ;  Newcomb,  Boston.  —  Claim  everything,  but  refuse 
to  substantiate.  —  Silent  treatments,  accord  with  Sidis' 
law.  —  Indirect  suggestions,  accord  with  Sidis'  law.  — 
Bernheim,  a-hypnotic  suggestion.  —  Hypnosis  necessary 
to  overcome  auto-suggestions.  —  Method  of  giving  treat- 
ments. —  Sphere  of  psychotherapeutics  :  subconscious 
memory  of  pain,  hallucinations,  insomnia,  neuralgia,  con- 
stipation. —  Drug  habit    and  degeneracy,  Quackenboss. 

—  Dubois  :     nervous    diseases.  —  Organic    disease  ?  — 
Anderson's  "muscle  bed."  —  Thinking  out  an  exercise. 

—  An  adjunct  to  general  medicine     ....  108-124 


XIV  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

CHAPTER   IX 

PSYCHIC   ELEMENT   IN    MEDICINE 

The  psychic  element  in  the  practise  of  medicine.  —  The 
personality  of  the  physician.  —  Genuine  good  -  will.  — 
Healthful  suggestions.  —  Suggestions  adverse  to  health. 
—  Diet. —  Suggestion  present  in  all  forms  of  therapeu- 
tics :  in  surgery,  in  refraction,  in  electrotherapy,  in  mas- 
sage, in  materia  medica.  —  The  hidden  suggestion.  —  Pop- 
ular belief  in  efficacy  of  drugs.  —  "  Posf  hoc  ergo  propter 
hoc."  —  "It  cured  me." — Profession  not  given  to  crit- 
ical analysis.  —  Responsible  for  erroneous  theories.  — 
Shattuck  :  "  Some  of  our  patients  get  well."  —  Flint's 
law,  the  natural  history  of  disease.  —  Percy  :  eight  thera- 
peutic influences :  {a)  Natural  history  of  the  morbid 
processes;  {b)  The  recuperative  energies  of  the  organ- 
ism ;  {c)  The  favorable  agencies  of  hygiene ;  {d)  The 
power  of  personal  magnetism,  in  the  practitioner ;  [e) 
Suggestion  and  auto-suggestion  ;  (/)  Faith  ;  [g)  Courage ; 
(K)  Drugs.  —  Attempt  to  eliminate  suggestion  from  drug 
pathogenesis.  —  The  reproving  by  the  Am.  Hom.  O.  O. 
and  L.  Soc.  —  The  placebo,  a  vehicle  of  suggestion  .  125-136 


^£Al.F< 


Psychology  Applied  to 
Medicine 


CHAPTER   I 


SUMMARY 


Books  recommended:  James,  "Psychology,"  Henry  Holt;  Don- 
aldson, "  Growth  of  Brain,"  Scribners ;  Sandford,  "  Experi- 
mental Psychology,"  Heath  ;  Waldstein,  "  The  Subconscious 
Self,"  Scribners  ;  Bramwell,  "  Hypnotism,"  Lippincott  ;  Sidis, 
"  Psychology  of  Suggestion,"  Appleton  ;  Sidis,  "  Multiple  Per- 
sonalities," Appleton.  —  Modern  psychology  is  becoming  an 
important  branch  of  medicine,  because  it  is  recognized  that 
"  no  mental  modification  ever  occurs  which  is  not  accompa- 
nied or  followed  by  bodily  change."  — Cerebration  is  accom- 
panied by  a  temporary  association  and  grouping  of  nerve  cells, 
but  thought  is  not  a  physical  matter.  —  Development  of  nerv- 
ous system  a  part  of  organic  evolution. —  Psychic  missing 
links.  —  Instincts,  common  to  man  and  beast.  —  Man  alone 
possesses  reason.  —  "  No  action  but  such  as  shows  a  choice 
of  means  can  be  called  indubitable  expression  of  mind."  — 
Recepts  and  concepts.  —  Man  has  three  sets  of  impulses  : 
(I)  Congenital  reflexes,  (2)  acquired  reflexes,  (3)  reason. 

Professor  Ladd  has  defined  psychology  as  "  the 
science  which  describes  and  explains  the  phenomena 
of  consciousness." 

While  abstruse  logic  and  cosmic  philosophy  are 


2        PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

still  legitimate  departments  of  the  subject,  the  new 
psychology  is  not  strictly  metaphysics,  it  is  a  physio- 
logical psychology,  in  fact  a  mental  physiology. 
The  very  word  experimental,  as  applied  to  the  sub- 
ject, suggests  appliances  and  individual  research 
quite  beyond  the  scope  of  logic. 

It  is  a  recognition  of  the  law  laid  down  by  Pro- 
fessor James,  that  "  no  mental  modification  ever 
occurs  which  is  not  accompanied  or  followed  by  a 
bodily  change,"  which  renders  it  imperative  that  a 
physician  should  be  well  grounded  in  the  funda- 
mental truths  of  psychology. 

The  comprehensiveness  of  the  subject  is  over- 
whelming. The  present  essay  is  an  attempt  to  pre- 
sent only  a  few  well-recognized  facts  which  bear 
directly  on  the  subjects  of  physiology  and  hygiene. 

It  may  be  well  at  the  outset  to  have  a  clear  idea 
of  our  limitations.  The  old  controversy  between 
the  spiritualist  and  the  materialist  is  perhaps  not 
yet  ended,  but  there  has  been  a  decided  reaction 
from  the  ultramaterialism  of  fifty  years  ago.  The 
attempt  to  identify  thought  and  molecular  motion 
has  few  defenders  to-day.  It  used  formerly  to  be 
said  by  this  class  of  thinkers:  "  The  brain  secretes 
thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile."  This  is  a  dis- 
tressing confusion  of  two  distinct  realms  in  nature, 
—  the  psychical  and  the  physical. 

Recent  developments  in  neurology  have  thrown 
much  light  on  the  phenomena  of  brain  activity. 
Cerebration  is  now  thought  to  be  accompanied  by  a 


SENSATION  3 

temporary  association  of  nerve  cells;  but  were  we 
able  to  trace  the  nervous  impulse,  thru  all  its  in- 
tricacies, to  the  brain  centers,  did  we  know  the 
exact  molecular  changes  which  cause  the  efferent 
impulse,  —  the  nature  of  a  thought  would  be  as 
much  a  mystery  as  ever.  Indeed  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  question  is  ever  solved  by  the  finite  mind. 
Tyndall  said  :  "  There  is  no  fusion  possible  between 
the  two  classes  of  facts.  The  passage  from  the 
physics  of  the  brain  to  the  corresponding  facts  of 
consciousness  is  unthinkable." 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  unknown  is  necessarily 
the  unknowable,  but  it  is  a  line  of  investigation  which 
cannot  be  taken  up  in  any  superficial  way.  This 
confession  of  ignorance  is  in  fact  a  great  step  toward 
a  higher  knowledge.  It  is  a  refined  agnosticism. 
The  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  brain  is  the  organ  of 
the  mind,  just  as  the  body  is  the  organ  of  the  brain. 

SENSATION 

Simple  protoplasm  possesses  irritability,  contrac- 
tility, and  elasticity  —  that  is,  it  has  sensation  equal 
to  its  needs.  Professor  Sutherland  has  said :  "A 
nervous  system  is  an  arrangement  by  means  of  which 
an  organism  becomes  conscious  of  its  environment 
(food,  friends,  and  foes)  and  adapts  itself  thereto." ' 
This  is  a  very  comprehensive  definition  suited  to 
any  form  of  life  except  unicellular  organisms,  and 
even  here,  altho  there  is  no  aggregation  of  nerve 

'Anatomical  Lectures,  B.  U.  Med.  School. 


4        PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

elements  into  a  system,  yet  monocellular  forms  react 
to  touch,  pressure,  etc. 

When  the  ameba  envelops  and  ingests  the  food 
particle  that  touches  its  periphery,  it  evidences  a 
"  consciousness  of  environment  and  adjustment 
thereto."  It  is  evident  that  the  word  consciousness 
is  here  used  in  a  general  sense.  Some  psychologists 
have  restricted  the  term  to  define  a  human  attribute 
only,  and  others  have  asserted  that  consciousness 
without  a  central  nervous  system  is  impossible. 
From  a  biological  standpoint  all  life  is  conscious. 

REASON  AND  INSTINCT 

By  studying  the  evolutionary  scale  of  life  as  it 
exists  to-day,  it  is  seen  that  the  nervous  system,  like 
its  accompanying  organism,  progresses  from  the 
simple  to  the  relatively  complex,  till  in  man  it 
reaches  a  development  capable  of  what  we  call 
reason. 

Undoubtedly  psychology  has  drawn  too  sharp  a 
line  between  reason  and  instinct.  The  reaction  from 
this  was  the  contention  that  the  lower  animals 
reason,  the  difference  being  one  of  degree,  not  of 
kind.  The  earUer  idea  that  reasoning  was  an 
attribute  of  man  only  was  natural  in  preevolutionary 
times,  and  was  based  on  the  belief  in  the  immediate 
creation  of  perfected  organisms,  the  so-called  spe- 
cial creation,  because  special  creations  had  distinct 
endowments.  The  evolutionist  maintains  that  since 
the  establishment  of  the  general  law,   "  from  the 


REASON   AND   INSTINCT  5 

simple  to  the  relatively  complex,"  the  burden  of 
proof  rests  on  him  who  claims  that  at  any  time  or 
place  it  ceases  to  be  of  universal  application. 

Perhaps  no  one  has  a  right  to  affirm  that  gravita- 
tion is  of  universal  application,  and  yet  experience 
warrants  one  in  assuming  its  universality  as  a  work- 
ing hypothesis  till  an  exception  is  proved.  So  it  is 
assumed  that  the  development  of  the  nervous  system 
has  been  one  continuous  upward  movement,  till 
we  have  the  mind  of  man.  This  would  lead  us  to 
expect  to  find  the  difference  between  reason  and 
instinct  one  of  degree,  and  in  the  last  analysis  this 
may  be  so.  Evolution  teaches  that  certain  species 
have  become  side-tracked,  and  are  forever  con- 
signed to  inferior  positions.  These  are  the  animals 
whose  mentality  never  rises  above  the  plane  of 
instincts.  As  morphological  connecting  links  are 
wanting,  so  in  a  still  more  emphatic  way  is  there  a 
gulf  between  the  highest  instinct  and  the  human 
mind. 

Professor  James  says :  "No  actions  but  such  as 
are  done  for  an  end,  and  show  a  choice  of  means, 
can  be  called  indubitable  expressions  of  mind." 
Accepting  this  criterion,  that  in  order  to  be  classed 
as  reason  an  act  must  "  show  a  choice  of  means," 
it  is  possible  to  draw  a  sharp  hne  between  reason 
and  instinct. 

It  is  somewhat  generally  beUeved  that  instincts 
are  attributes  of  the  lower  animals  only,  and  the 
fact  is  overlooked  that  man  is   richly  endowed  in 


6        PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

this  direction,  especially  in  infancy.  Instincts  are 
impulses.  "  Theirs  not  to  reason  why."  In  physiol- 
ogy we  call  them  reflexes.  The  human  infant  is 
born  with  the  instinct  to  suck  fully  developed.  The 
tendency  to  clasp  any  object  that  comes  in  contact 
with  the  fingers  or  toes  is  very  marked.  In  fact,  this 
instinct  is  stronger  a  few  hours  after  birth  than  at 
any  later  period. 

New-born  children  are  able  to  sustain  their  own 
weight  by  grasping  a  lead-pencil,  often  with  only 
one  hand.  The  evolutionary  bearing  of  this  is  very 
interesting,  and  shows  very  beautifully  how  natural 
selection  could,  in  the  lower  animals,  propagate 
this  impulse.  The  young  of  the  chimpanzee  whose 
grasp  of  the  mother  was  strongest  would  by  this 
means  escape  destruction  when  pursued  by  an 
enemy.  Of  course  in  man  the  law  of  the  "  survival 
of  the  fittest  "  is  operative  in  a  lesser  degree.  The 
transiency  of  many  infantile  instincts,  when  not 
exercised,  will  be  again  referred  to  under  the  subject 
"  Habit."  Fear  and  love  we  possess  in  common 
with  the  animals.  The  sexual  passion  is  perhaps 
one  of  the  strongest  examples. 

DO   ANIMALS   REASON? 

Let  the  great  John  Burroughs  answer  it. 

"  Apropos  of  the  question,  *  Do  animals  think?  ' 
a  correspondent,  writing  from  Washington,  says 
that  I  deny  this  power  to  the  lower  animals  because 
I  use  the  word  in  a  too  restricted  sense.    He  then 


REASON   AND   INSTINCT  7 

proceeds  to  say  that  if  we  use  the  word  '  chin ' 
to  signify  '  exclusively  a  portion  of  the  human 
face,  meaning  that  portion  which  is  extended 
perpendicularly  downward  from  the  mouth,  we 
would  hesitate  to  say  that  lower  animals  have 
chins.  So  if  we  define  "laugh"  as  spreading  the 
mouth  in  merriment  we  could  not  say  that  animals 
laugh.' 

"  I  am  quite  ready  to  admit  that  animals  think 
in  as  strict  a  sense  as  they  have  chins  or  as  they 
laugh.  A  feehng  of  play  and  merriment  they  cer- 
tainly have,  but  tliis  feehng  is  practically  entirely 
physical.  I  don't  suppose  an  animal  could  appre- 
ciate a  joke,  or  the  comic,  or  the  absurd.  Man  is 
the  only  animal  that  laughs  or  weeps,  though  tears 
may  run  from  the  eyes  of  a  suffering  beast.  And 
the  chin  of  a  bird  or  beast  is  a  very  rudimentary 
affair  indeed. 

"  Take  the  case  of  the  Uttle  yellow  warbler  when 
the  cowbird  drops  her  egg  into  its  nest  —  does  any- 
thing Uke  a  process  of  thought  or  reflection  pass 
in  the  bird's  mind  then?  The  warbler  is  much 
disturbed  when  she  discovers  the  strange  egg,  and 
her  mate  appears  to  share  her  agitation.  Then 
after  a  time,  and  after  the  two  have  apparently 
considered  the  matter  together,  the  mother  bird 
proceeds  to  bury  the  egg  by  building  a  new  nest  on 
top  of  the  old  one.  If  another  cowbird's  egg  is 
dropped  in  this  one,  she  will  proceed  to  get  rid  of 
this  in  the  same  way.    This  all  looks  very  like  reflec- 


8        PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

tion.  But  let  us  consider  the  matter  a  moment. 
This  thing  between  the  cowbird  and  the  warbler 
has  been  going  on  for  innumerable  generations. 
The  yellow,  warbler  seems  to  be  the  favorite  host  of 
this  parasite,  and  something  hke  a  special  instinct 
may  have  grown  up  in  the  warbler  with  reference 
to  this  strange  egg.  Thg  bird  reacts,  as  the  psychol- 
ogists say,  at  sight  of  jt,  then  she  proceeds  to  dispose 
of  it  in  the  way  above  described.  All  yellow  warblers 
act  in  the  same  manner,  which  is  the  way  of  instinct. 
Now  if  this  procedure  was  the  result  of  an  individual 
thought  or  calculation  on  the  part  of  the  birds,  they 
would  not  all  do  the  same  thing;  different  lines  of 
conduct  would  be  hit  upon.  How  much  simpler  and 
easier  it  would  be  to  throw  the  egg  out  —  how  much 
more  hke  an  act  of  rational  intelligence.  So  far  as 
I  know  no  bird  does  eject  this  parasitical  egg, 
and  no  other  bird  besides  the  yellow  warbler 
gets  rid  of  it  in  the  way  I  have  described.  I  have 
seen  a  green-backed  warbler  rearing  the  young 
cowbird. 

"  Another  correspondent  is  sure  his  dog  thinks 
when  he  sits  up  in  front  of  him  while  he  is  reading, 
and  taps  him  on  his  back  or  leg  as  a  reminder  that 
he  wants  the  ball  in  his  master's  pocket  to  play  with ; 
and  that  his  parrot  thinks  when,  on  hearing  him 
enter  the  house,  it  begins  savagely  to  bite  its  cage 
and  to  make  hideous  noises,  all  with  a  view  to  ob- 
taining its  freedom,  so  that  it  can  make  its  way  to  its 
beloved  master,  and  caress  and  play  with  him.    If 


REASON   AND   INSTINCT  9 

such  things  indicate  powers  of  thought,  then  nearly 
all  animals  think.  The  bee  does  when  it  goes  forth 
from  the  hive  in  quest  of  honey ;  the  big  midsummer 
spider  does  when  it  shakes  its  net  to  frighten  you 
away;  the  mother  bird  does  when  she  flutters  over 
the  ground  at  your  feet  to  decoy  you  away  from  her 
nest,  etc.  But  none  of  these  acts  can  properly  be 
called  the  result  of  thinking. 

"  When  a  parrot  takes  a  crust  of  bread  and  soaks 
it  in  its  cup  of  water  before  eating  it,  that  looks  much 
more  hke  the  result  of  a  mental  process." ' 

There  are  many  instances  of  animal  sagacity 
which  seem  to  show  a  certain  degree  of  reasoning. 

The  following  is  quoted  by  Professor  James: 

"  I  have  two  dogs,  a  small,  long-legged  pet  dog, 
and  a  rather  large  watch-dog.  Immediately  beyond 
the  house  court  is  a  garden,  into  which  one  enters 
through  a  low  lattice  gate  which  is  closed  by  a  latch 
on  the  yard  side.  This  latch  is  opened  by  hfting  it. 
Besides  this,  moreover,  the  gate  is  fastened  on  the 
garden  side  by  a  string  nailed  to  a  gate-post.  Here, 
as  often  as  one  wished,  could  the  following  sight  be 
observed.  If  the  little  dog  was  shut  in  the  garden 
and  wanted  to  go  out  he  placed  himself  before  the 
gate  and  barked.  Immediately  the  large  dog  in  the 
court  would  hasten  to  him  and  raise  the  latch  with 
his  nose,  while  the  little  dog  on  the  garden  side  leaped 
up,  and  catching  the  string  in  his  teeth,  bit  it  thru. 

"  Certainly  reasoning  here  seems  to  prevail. 

'  Outing  Magazine,  1905. 


lO      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

"  In  face  of  it,  however,  and  altho  the  dogs  arrived 
of  themselves  and  without  human  aid  at  the  solution 
of  the  gate  question,  I  am  able  to  point  out  that  the 
complete  action  was  pieced  together  out  of  acci- 
dental experiences,  which  the  dogs  followed,  I  might 
say,  unconsciously. 

"  While  the  large  dog  was  young,  he  was  allowed, 
like  the  Uttle  one,  to  go  into  the  garden,  and  therefore 
the  gate  was  usually  not  latched  but  simply  closed. 
Now  if  he  saw  any  one  go  in  he  would  follow  by 
thrusting  his  snout  between  the  gate  and  the  post, 
and  so  pushing  the  gate  open.  When  he  was  grown 
I  forbade  his  being  taken  in,  and  had  the  gate  kept 
latched.  But  he  naturally  still  tried  to  follow  when 
any  one  entered,  and  tried  in  the  old  fashion  to  open 
it,  which  he  could  no  longer  do.  Now  it  fell  out  that 
once,  while  trying,  he  raised  his  nose  higher  than 
usual,  and  hit  the  latch  from  below,  so  as  to  lift  it 
off  its  hook,  and  the  gate  opened.  From  thence- 
forth he  made  the  same  movement  of  the  head  when 
trying  to  open  it,  and  of  course  with  the  same 
result.  He  now  knew  how  to  open  the  gate  when  it 
was  latched. 

"  The  little  dog  had  been  the  large  one's  teacher 
in  many  things,  especially  in  the  chasing  of  cats,  and 
catching  of  mice  and  moles,  so  when  the  httle  one  was 
heard  barking,  the  other  always  hastened  to  him. 

"  If  the  barking  came  from  the  garden  he  opened 
the  gate  to  get  inside. 

"  But  meanwhile  the  little  dog,  who  wanted  to  get 


REASON   AND    INSTINCT  II 

out,  the  moment  the  gate  opened  shpped  out  between 
the  big  one's  legs,  and  so  the  appearance  of  his  having 
come  with  the  intention  of  letting  him  out  arose,  and 
that  it  was  simply  an  appearance  transpired  from  the 
fact  that,  when  the  little  dog  did  not  succeed  at 
once  in  getting  out,  the  large  one  ran  in,  and  nosed 
about  the  garden,  plainly  showing  that  he  had 
expected  to  see  something  there. 

"  In  order  to  stop  this  opening  of  the  gate,  I  fas- 
tened a  string  on  the  garden  side,  which,  tightly 
drawn,  held  the  gate  firmly  against  the  post,  so 
that  if  the  large  dog  raised  the  latch,  and  let  go, 
it  would  every  time  fall  back  on  the  hook,  and  this 
device  was  successful  for  quite  a  time,  until  it  hap- 
pened one  day  that  on  my  return  from  a  walk  upon 
which  the  Httlc  dog  had  accompanied  me,  I  crossed 
the  garden,  and  in  passing  through  the  gate  the  dog 
remained  behind,  and  refused  to  come  to  my  whistle. 

"As  it  was  begirming  to  rain  and  I  knew  how  he 
disHked  to  get  wet,  I  closed  the  gate  in  order  to  punish 
him  in  this  manner. 

"  But  I  had  hardly  reached  the  house  ere  he  was 
before  the  gate,  whining  and  crying  most  piteously, 
for  the  rain  was  falling  faster  and  faster.  The  big 
dog,  to  whom  the  rain  was  a  matter  of  indifference, 
was  instantly  on  hand,  and  tried  his  utmost  to  open 
the  gate,  but  naturally  without  success.  Almost  in 
despair,  the  Uttle  dog  bit  at  the  gate,  at  the  same 
time  springing  into  the  air  in  the  attempt  to  jump 
over  it,  when  he  chanced  to  catch  the  string  in  his 


12      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

teeth.  It  broke  and  the  gate  flew  open.  Now  he  knew 
the  secret,  and  thenceforth  bit  the  string  whenever  he 
wished  to  get  out,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  change 
it."' 

If  every  story  of  animal  intelligence  could  be  care- 
fully analyzed  and  the  history  of  its  development 
known  it  would  probably  be  evident,  as  in  this  case, 
that  the  mentahty  displayed  was  hardly  worthy  the 
name  Reason.  There  is  an  association  of  means  and 
end.  The  dog  remembered  that  a  certain  result  fol- 
lowed a  certain  action.  In  the  first  instance,  when 
the  gate  was  not  hasped,  simply  pushing  against  it 
caused  it  to  open.  Accidentally  discovering  that 
raising  the  hasp  with  his  nose,  the  result  —  open 
gate  —  foUowed,  simple  memory  of  the  association 
of  the  two  occurrences  caused  him  to  repeat  the  move- 
ment. To  this  class  of  phenomena  psychology-  has 
given  the  name  Recept.  This  word  is  derived  from 
Latin  re  (back),  capio  (to  take),  meaning  something 
remembered. 

This  is  in  distinction  from  the  larger  word  Concept, 
from  the  same  root,  but  the  prefix  con,  together,  shows 
that  it  covers  the  association  of  things  received. 
This  term  is  applicable  only  to  reasoning.  In  reason- 
ing we  put  things  together  and  pick  out  the  essential 
quality  of  observed  facts.  In  this  instance,  that  the 
pushing  of  the  gate  must  take  place  while  the  hasp 
was  hfted,  so  that  the  hasp  would  not  drop  into  its 
place  again.    Then  there  is  formed  in  the  mind  a 

*  Psychology. 


REASON   AND   INSTINCT  1 3 

concept,  the  principle  of  hasps  in  general,  and  the 
test  of  a  concept  is  the  power  to  use  the  idea  under 
similar  circumstances. 

This  leads  to  Professor  James'  proposition: 
"  The  ability  to  deal  with  novel  data  is  the  technical 
differentia  of  reasoning."  This  is  very  well  shown 
by  the  further  history  of  the  two  dogs  which  I  quote 
again : 

"  That  the  big  dog  in  raising  the  latch  did  not  in 
the  least  know  that  the  latch  closed  the  gate,  that  the 
raising  of  the  same  opened  it,  but  that  he  merely 
repeated  the  automatic  blow  with  his  snout,  which 
had  once  had  such  happy  consequences,  transpires 
from  the  following : 

"  The  gate  leading  to  the  bam  is  fastened  with  a 
latch  precisely  hke  the  one  on  the  garden  gate,  only 
placed  a  Httle  higher,  still  easily  within  the  dog's  reach. 

"  Here,  too,  occasionally  the  little  dog  is  confined, 
and  when  he  barks  the  big  one  makes  every  possible 
effort  to  open  the  gate,  but  it  never  has  occurred  to 
him  to  push  the  latch  up.  The  brute  cannot  draw 
conclusions,  that  is,  he  cannot  think." 

These  recepts  might  be  defined  as  acquired  in- 
stincts, or  if  that  seems  a  contradiction  of  terms, 
acquired  reflexes.  It  is  certainly  one  step  higher 
than  the  primary  instincts,  and  is  quite  suggestive 
of  the  way  in  which  our  ancestors  may  have  repeated 
certain  actions  till  a  tendency  to  do  the  same  ap- 
peared in  the  offspring.  The  reason  for  many  of  our 
human  instincts  is  now  lost.    Yet  it  never  occurs  to 


14      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

US  to  question  these  actions  in  ourselves.  "  It  takes 
what  Berkeley  calls  a  mind  debauched  by  learning  to 
make  the  natural  seem  strange,  so  far  as  to  ask  for 
why  of  any  instinctive  human  act." ' 

It  was  just  said  that  the  transmission  of  acquired 
habits  might  account  for  instincts,  animal  and  human. 
This  was  the  generally  accepted  view,  altho  it  was 
recognized  that  the  evidence  was  meager  in  the  ex- 
treme. But  in  1889  Weismann,  of  Freiburg,^  pub- 
lished a  strong  denial,  outHning  a  theory  which  in- 
creases the  scope  of  natural  selection, 

Weismann  denies  that  functional  qualities  are 
transmissible,  denies  that  the  blacksmith's  son  is 
capable  of  any  greater  physical  development  than 
he  would  have  been  had  his  father  followed  some 
sedentary  profession. 

This  view  has  gained  many  adherents  in  the  intel- 
lectual world,  and  while  it  would  be  out  of  place  to 
introduce  the  argument  here,  it  must  be  mentioned 
that  Herbert  Spencer  was  strongly  opposed.  The 
principle  of  inheritance  of  acquired  characteristics 
is  part  of  the  groundwork  of  his  Synthetic  Philos- 
ophy, and  in  the  later  controversy  ^  with  Weismann 
he  held  his  ground  manfully. 

What  we  need  is  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  we 
are  richly  endowed  with  instincts,  and  that  these 
form  a  basis  from  which  are  developed  habits,  habits 

'  James :  Psychology. 

*  Essays  upon  Heredity. 

3  Contemporary  Kdview,  September,  1893,  October,  1894. 


REASON   AND   INSTINCT  I  5 

of  reasoning  as  well  as  of  bodily  movements.  Rea- 
soning is  also  based  upon  experience  both  individual 
and  ancestral. 

Man  may  therefore  be  said  to  be  dominated  by 
three  sets  of  impulses. 

(i)  Congenital  reflexes. 

(2)  Acquired  reflexes. 

(3)  Reason. 

The  second,  acquired  reflexes,  is  a  somewhat  ar- 
bitrary division,  and  its  boundaries  are  difficult  to 
determine.  It  is  the  transitional  form,  and,  altho 
on  its  upper  and  lower  sides  it  merges  into  the  two 
extremes,  its  very  existence  tends  to  emphasize  the 
gulf  between  instinct  and  reason.  This  difference  is 
thus  seen  to  be  not  merely  one  of  degree  but  one  of 
kind.  The  hights  to  which  human  reason  may  mount 
are  indeed  uncomprehensible  to  the  common  mind. 
The  vast  range  of  phenomena  which  a  great  mind 
can  assimilate  at  a  glance  often  makes  him  impatient 
with  us  common  mortals  who  have  to  grope  our  way 
step  by  step.  It  is  frequently  quoted  that  Bow- 
ditch,  who  translated  one  of  Laplace's  books,  said : 
*'  Whenever  his  author  prefaced  a  proposition  by 
the  words  '  It  is  evident,'  he  knew  that  many 
hours  of  hard  study  lay  before  him,  ere  it  became 
evident  to  him." ' 

'  James  :  Psychology. 


CHAPTER   II 

SUMMARY 

Habit. —  Human  instincts  are  transient  unless  developed  into 
habits.  — "  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  inclines  "  —  Habits 
are  reflex  arcs,  which  like  electric  currents  follow  the  path  of 
least  resistance.  —  The  development  of  habits.  —  The  moral 
significance.  —  "  Man  is  a  mere  bundle  of  habits."  —  The  con- 
catenated impulse ;  economic  value.  —  Professional  habits.  — 
Intelligent  reading  is  wise  skipping.  —  The  conscious  and  sub- 
conscious ;  relationship.  —  The  "  Moment  Consciousness  "  — 
Sleep  a  dissociation  of  few  or  many  nerve  centers.  —  Dreams 
are  sleeping  hallucinations  ;  duration  short.  — Caused  by  some 
centripetal  stimulus,  somatic  or  external.  —  Infinite  resources 
of  the  subconscious.  —  Wonderful  memory ;  how  to  utilize  it. 
—  A  possible  explanation  of  genius.  —  Geniuses  not  well  bal- 
anced.—  Mental  epidemics.  —  Concentration:  in  the  crowd 
but  not  ^it. 

HABIT 

Preyer  has  said  that  instincts  are  observable  in 
the  human  animal  only  in  infancy.  This  may  not  be 
strictly  true,  yet  the  preponderance  of  the  instinctive 
in  early  life  has  for  us  some  very  fmportant  lessons. 
The  other  fact  of  immense  practical  value  is  the 
transiency  of  these  instincts.  Take,  for  example, 
the  sucking  instinct.  Every  experienced  nurse  rec- 
ognizes the  importance  of  putting  the  baby  to  the 
breast  before  the  milk  comes.  If  this  be  omitted  and 
if  there  be  any  delay  in  the  natural  food,  it  is  often  no 
easy  task  to  teach  a  child  to  nurse.    This  is  espe- 


HABIT  17 

dally  true  of  the  lower  animals,  for  there  is  evident 
in  man  a  great  lengthening  of  the  period  of  infancy 
or  helplessness. 

As  with  the  sucking  instinct,  immediate  obedience 
makes  continuance  easy,  so  in  a  hundred  ways  in- 
stincts may  be  made  permanent  by  carrying  out  the 
action,  that  is,  by  the  estabUshment  of  a  habit.  The 
advantage  of  a  lengthened  infancy  is  the  extension  of 
the  time  of  initiating  habits.' 

Obviously  our  habits  are  not  all  formed  in  infancy, 
but  the  difficulty  of  the  acquisition  increases  with  age. 
The  longer  the  infancy,  the  longer  the  period  of 
plasticity,  the  greater  the  number  of  lines  of  thought 
and  action  which  can  be  implanted. 

"  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  inclines "  is  a 
principle  never  lost  sight  of  by  educators  and 
reformers. 

With  the  majority  of  people  moral  habits  formed 
in  the  "  teens  "  become  dominant  thru  life,  while 
the  period  between  twenty  and  thirty  fixes  the  pro- 
fessional habits.  This  general  truth  need  not  dis- 
courage us  in  attempting  the  acquisition  of  new 
habits  if  we  have  a  clear  conception  of  the  actions 
necessary  to  the  formation  of  a  habit. 

Without  considering  the  question  of  whence,  we 
are  constantly  subject  to  impulses.  This  may  be  an 
impulse  to  whistle.  Now  two  courses  are  open,  the 
individual  may  or  may  not  carry  out  this  impulse. 
Whether  or  not  he  be  a  free  moral  agent  does  not 

'  See  John  Fiske's  Essay  :  The  Meaning  of  Infancy. 


1 8      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

concern  us.  Neither  is  the  question  if  the  impulse 
be  good  or  bad. 

Yielding  to  the  impulse,  doing  the  thing  impelled, 
makes  it  very  much  more  probable  that  the  next  time 
that  same  impulse  is  felt,  the  action  will  follow.  This 
establishes  a  path  of  motor  discharge,  which  is  per- 
haps the  best  physiological  definition  of  habit.  All 
reflex  arcs  follow  this  law,  the  sensation  having  gotten 
in,  the  efferent  impulse  probably  follows  the  path  of 
least  resistance.  We  can  imagine  that  with  the 
initial  impulse,  like  the  brook  trickling  from  a 
snow-bank,  the  slightest  obstacle  may  divert  its 
course,  but  the  grooving  effect  soon  converts  this 
slight  obstruction  into  a  high  bank,  so  that  nothing 
less  than  a  freshet  can  overcome  the  barrier. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  the  psychical  is  absolutely 
predestined  Uke  the  physical.  Were  it  so,  effort  at  a 
change  would  be  unavailing.  Here  comes  in  the 
human  will,  the  impulse  from  without,  if  you  please. 
Given  the  impulse  to  change  a  habit,  or  to  form  a 
new  one,  the  one  essential  is  the  immediate  action, 
the  breaking  down  of  the  barrier  for  this  once.  As 
Emerson  puts  it :  "  When  the  divine  moment  of 
the  soul  comes,  leave  your  theory  Uke  Joseph  his 
coat  in  the  hands  of  the  harlot  and  flee."  ^ 

The  next  time  this  same  impulse  is  felt,  the  pre- 
vious action  serves  as  a  groove,  be  it  ever  so  shallow. 
The  moral  impUcation  is  so  much  in  evidence  that 
it    is   difficult  to  wholly  exclude  it.     Perhaps  the 

'  Essay  on  Self-reliance. 


IMPULSES  19 

easiest  way  to  surmount  the  difficulty  is  to  enlarge 
our  definition  of  morals.  Such  aphorisms  as  "  Man 
is  a  mere  bundle  of  habits,"  and  "  Order  is  Heaven's 
first  law,"  show  that,  after  all,  the  really  impor- 
tant thing  is  care  in  forming  one's  habits. 

There  is  also  an  economic  side  to  the  question. 
Take,  for  example,  the  act  of  buttoning  one's  coat, 
it  is  really  a  very  complicated  composite  of  afferent 
and  efferent  impulses,  and  all  done  unconsciously. 
Watch  the  young  child  as  he  painfully  learns  each 
part  of  the  process. 

With  the  adult  all  that  is  necessary  is  the  initial 
impulse,  either  conscious  or  unconscious.  The  re- 
sulting action  of  the  contact  of  the  finger  with  the  but- 
tonhole becomes  the  impulse  for  the  next  specific 
act,  and  so  on  thru  the  whole  series.  The  psy- 
chological term  for  this  is  a  concatenated  impulse. 
The  word  is  derived  from  con  (together)  and  catena 
(a  chain),  meaning  literally  chained  together. 

It  thus  becomes  apparent  that,  after  the  formation 
of  the  habit,  cerebration  has  simply  to  concern  itself 
with  one  impulse  instead  of  the  many  to  bring  about 
a  complicated  series  of  movements.  Were  it  not  for 
this  fact  we  could  accomplish  very  little  during  a 
lifetime.  But  the  act  of  yesterday  becoming  the 
habit  of  to-day,  leaves  time  for  further  research  and 
progress.  Just  in  proportion  as  habit  may  become  a 
strong  ally,  so  it  may  also  become  a  terrible  enemy. 

Professor  James  tells  us  that  professional  habits 
become  fixed  between  the  twentieth  and  thirtieth 


20      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

years.  What  shall  these  habits  be?  Reading  and 
study  must  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  physician's 
spare  time.  He  should  form  the  habit  of  extracting 
the  important  items  from  a  mass  of  unimportant 
detail.  Certain  general  principles  apply,  whether 
it  be  a  current  magazine  or  an  exhaustive  treatise. 

Euclid  is  credited  with  the  saying,  "  There  is  no 
royal  road  to  geometry."  Yet  there  is  a  royal  habit 
to  be  cultivated,  which  will  make  the  road  easy  to  the 
acquisition  of  any  subject.  Nearly  every  book  has 
a  preface  and  a  table  of  contents.  Many  people 
form  the  very  bad  habit  of  skipping  both.  This 
plunges  one  into  the  details  of  a  subject  without 
any  comprehensive  view.  The  logical  habit  is  just 
the  reverse.  A  general  idea  of  a  subject  as  a  whole 
is  the  first  essential. 

One  can  seldom  do  better  than  to  commence  with 
the  title-page,  which  furnishes  information  about  the 
author,  his  position  in  the  professional  world,  and 
some  hint  as  to  the  rehability  of  his  statements. 
The  table  of  contents  gives  in  a  broad  way  the  matter 
presented,  and,  what  is  also  of  equal  importance, 
the  logical  sequence  of  the  data  and  argument.  In- 
telhgent  reading  is  said  to  be  wise  skipping,  but  wise 
skipping  requires  a  general  grasp,  else  the  skipping 
is  a  dangerous  habit.  This  habit  \\\\\  ensure  the 
student  against  plodding  thru  a  mass  of  detail, 
which  he  soon  forgets  because  he  fails  to  see  its  re- 
lation to  the  whole.  The  secret  of  remembering  is 
this.     Details  are  imi)ortant  only  as  they  cluster 


INTELLECTUAL   HABITS  21 

around  and  attach  themselves  to  the  main  thoughts. 
This  method  of  study  will  enable  one  to  retain. 

An  educated  man  has  been  defined  as  "  one  who 
knows  where  to  go  to  get  information."  This  is  in 
distinction  from  the  person  whose  brain  is  full  of 
jumbled  incoherent  facts.  The  relationship  between 
phenomena  should  be  carefully  noted,  perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  say  the  relationships  between 
different  sets  of  phenomena.  Let  them  all  be  con- 
catenated, then  recollection  becomes  literally  a  i£- 
coUection.  One  idea  suggests  another  with  which 
we  have  associated  it,  and  so  on  thru  the  series. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  remember  the  beginning  of  the 
chain,  and  the  rest  is  suggested.  This  is  the  principle 
in  most  of  the  so-called  "  memory  helps." 

But  above  all  is  it  necessary  to  read  understand- 
ingly.  One  chapter  read  well  is  better  than  the  whole 
book  read  badly.  Evidently  each  man's  ability  to 
digest  a  given  subject  will  depend  upon  his  education 
and  previous  habit.  Emerson  has  said :  "  He  must 
take  himself  for  better  for  worse  as  his  portion, 
though  the  wide  universe  is  full  of  good,  no  kernel 
of  nourishing  corn  can  come  to  him  but  through  his 
toil  bestowed  on  that  plot  of  ground  which  is  given 
to  him  to  till."' 

The  economic  value  of  intellectual  habits  becomes 
apparent  when  it  is  understood  that  habits  of  mind, 
as  well  as  of  body  functions,  are  soon  relegated  to 
the  domain  of  the  subconscious.    Idiosyncrasies  of 

'  Essay  on  Self-reliance. 


22      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

thinking  and  talking  are  so  much  a  matter  of  com- 
mon experience  that  the  importance  of  the  subject 
has  been  very  generally  overlooked.  The  next  time 
you  are  at  a  club  meeting  and  some  one  is  called 
upon  to  discuss  a  paper,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to 
forecast  and  predict,  not  only  the  Httle  mannerisms 
of  address  and  phraseology,  yes,  even  the  argumen- 
tative machinery. 

You  may  not  know  this  man's  opinion  on  the  spe- 
cial subject  at  hand,  but  if  he  be  a  person  to  whom 
you  have  often  Hstened,  you  can  safely  infer  his 
method  of  taking  up  the  subject.  The  relationships 
of  any  fact  are  so  numerous,  that  one  is  almost  sure 
to  see  this  thing  from  the  same  point  of  view,  as  on 
other  occasions  he  has  seen  other  things.  And  the 
interesting  part  of  it  all  is  that  the  man  himself  sel- 
dom realizes  that  he  has  well-defined  campaign  plans 
ready  made  for  all  ordinary  occasions. 

The  soldier  knows,  unconsciously  (if  you  will  al- 
low that  a  thing  can  be  known  unconsciously),  just 
what  maneuvers  a  certain  charge  or  retreat  demand. 
His  whole  education  from  private  to  officer  is  a  rec- 
ognition of  this  principle.  The  story  is  told  of  an 
old  soldier  going  home  with  his  dinner.  Altho 
having  long  since  retired  from  service,  the  old  sub- 
conscious habit  was  so  strong,  that  when  some  one 
shouted  "  Attention !  "  his  arms  came  down  to  the 
sides  and  his  dinner  dropped  to  the  gutter.  The 
ordinary  explanation  would  be  that  he  did  it  "  with- 
out thinking."    This  is  not  far  from  the  truth,  if  it 


THE   SUBCONSCIOUS  23 

be  added  that  he  did  it  because  he  had  previously 
thought  and  acted  this  way. 

SUBLIMINAL   CEREBRATION 

It  is  such  facts  as  these  which  have  led  to  theory 
of  "  unconscious  cerebration."  A  more  modem 
name  is  the  subconscious  mind.  The  word  sub- 
liminal is  also  used  by  some  psychologists.  To 
understand  its  applicability  it  should  be  dissected. 
The  root  is  the  Latin  limen  (a  threshold).  Thresh- 
old in  metaphysics  has  come  to  mean  the  smallest 
stimulus  to  which  a  given  sense  organ  will  respond, 
for  example,  the  lowest  tone,  about  sixteen  vibra- 
tions to  the  second,  of  which  the  ear  is  conscious, 
is  the  threshold  of  sound. 

So  in  psychology  subliminal  means  under  conscious 
or  subconscious.  It  is  conceived  that  the  mind  is 
divisible,  not  by  a  hard  and  fast  anatomical  hne,  but 
physiologically  into  the  conscious  and  subconscious. 

The  reflexes  belong  to  the  subconscious,  they  are 
actions  laboriously  thought  out  by  prehistoric  indi- 
viduals, transmitted  as  impulses  or  mental  grooves 
to  posterity,  with  their  automatic  machinery  in 
perfect  running  order. 

It  was  said  that  the  cleavage  was  physiological, 
but  this  does  not  mean  that  it  is  absolute.  Many 
actions  are  ordinarily  subconscious,  yet  are  under 
control  of  the  will,  if  given  conscious  attention.  In- 
dividuals vary  greatly  in  the  classification  of  their 
actions,  those  which  are  subconscious  in  one  being 


24      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

impossible  save  by  conscious  thought  in  others. 
Moreover,  in  the  same  individual  there  is  a  constant 
shifting  of  the  dividing  line. 

THE  MOMENT   CONSCIOUSNESS 

The  experiences  of  the  moment,  which  Sidis  calls 
the  "  Moment  Consciousness,"  consist  of  that 
of  which  we  are  directly  conscious,  the  fact  upon 
which  the  attention  is  fixed,  and  all  the  other  en- 
vironmental facts  which  are  also  perceived  by  the 
senses.  These  impressions  may  not  be  intense  enough 
to  rise  into  consciousness,  and  yet  are  indelibly  regis- 
tered in  the  subconscious.  The  next  moment  an- 
other cluster  of  sensations  is  perceived,  and  a  large 
part,  perhaps  all,  of  the  content  of  the  previous  "  mo- 
ment consciousness  "  becomes  subconscious. 

The  reverse  of  this  process  is  equally  true,  sub- 
conscious memories  by  association  loom  up  into  con- 
sciousness, both  prompting  and  modifying  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  the  sensations  of  the  conscious.  As  Ufe 
experiences  multiply,  the  stored  up  facts  increase. 
The  content  of  the  present  "  moment  consciousness  " 
includes  the  essence  of  all  previous  "  moments  con- 
sciousness." 

Moreover,  it  must  not  be  assumed  that  a  sub- 
conscious memory  must  rise  into  consciousness  in 
order  that  it  shall  become  an  active  factor.  Cases 
of  hallucination  studied  by  Doctor  Sidis  show  that 
ofttimes  some  forgotten  psychic  shock  is  sufficient  to 
give  rise  to  the  mental  aberration.    This  leads  Sidis 


DREAMS  25 

to  conclude  that  "  hallucinations  are  waking  dreams 
and  that  dreams  are  sleeping  hallucinations."  As 
brain  activity  is  functional  association  of  nerve 
clusters,  so  sleep  is  a  dissociation  of  few  or  many 
brain  centers,  just  as  it  is  less  or  more  profound. 

As  we  know,  some  people  seem  to  sleep  "  with  one 
eye  open,"  being  aroused  by  the  sHghtest  unusual 
sound,  while  others  fall  into  a  profound  lethargy. 
Dreams  do  not  occur  in  the  sound  sleeper,  except 
when  he  is  in  the  transition  stage  between  sleeping 
and  waking.  We  are  often  conscious  of  having 
dreamed,  but  find  it  impossible  to  recollect  the  sub- 
ject matter.  At  other  times  the  dream  is  so  vivid 
as  to  waken  one  with  a  start. 

Sidis  argues  that  the  cause  is  always  a  centrip- 
etal stimulus,  that  is,  something  from  outside  the 
brain,  since  the  brain  does  not  originate  impressions. 
For  example,  indigestion  giving  rise  to  pain  may 
cause  in  the  dissociated  cell  groups  of  the  brain  a 
sleeping  hallucination  of  a  gastric  ulcer,  and  cold 
applied  to  a  sleeper's  feet  call  forth  a  dream  of  an 
arctic  expedition. 

A  recent  experience  of  the  writer  is  such  a  perfect 
illustration  of  this  point  that  he  cannot  refrain  from 
introducing  it. 

At  a  dinner  with  some  medical  friends  a  large 
dish  of  anchovies  was  allowed  to  remain  on  the 
table  during  several  courses.  Without  thinking  of 
how  many  I  was  eating  I  continued  nibbhng  during 
the  meal. 


26      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

Before  going  to  sleep  I  was  not  conscious  of  any 
unpleasant  sensations  from  the  indulgence,  but  in 
the  middle  of  the  night  I  dreamed  that  I  was  seated 
at  a  caf6  table,  and  opposite  sat  my  friend  of  the 
evening. 

I  do  not  remember  giving  the  order,  but  the  waiter 
brought  to  my  friend  a  large  glass  bowl  which  would 
hold  two  or  three  quarts.  This  was  filled  with  some 
light  pink  sherbet,  and  completely  encircHng  the 
dish  was  a  row  of  most  luscious  strawberries. 

With  some  impatience  I  asked  the  waiter  why  he 
did  not  serve  me  with  the  same.  He  repHed,  ''  In 
just  a  minute,  sir." 

My  friend  very  politely  said  he  would  wait  till 
I  was  served,  but  I  insisted  that  he  should  not. 

He  ate  very  leisurely,  and  all  the  time  my  thirst 
increased,  and  wth  equal  rate  my  anger  rose  at  that 
waiter  and  his  repeated  "  Yes,  sir,  just  a  minute." 
But  the  cHmax  came  when  he  finally  put  before  me 
a  bowl  similar  to  the  one  from  which  my  friend  was 
eating,  but  alas  !  empty. 

To  add  to  my  exasperation,  the  bowl  had  a  red 
stain  around  the  top  where  the  strawberries  had  been. 
My  anger  became  uncontrollable,  and  I  waked  with 
such  a  parched  mouth  that  I  immediately  drank  off 
several  glasses  of  water. 

The  short  duration  of  the  dream  state,  notwith- 
standing the  varied  experiences  thru  which  one 
passes,  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  account 
which  was  given  the  writer  by  a  telegraph  operator. 


DREAMS  27 

"  One  evening  in  the  summer  of  1882,  or  possibly 
1 88 1,  while  taking  press  report  for  the  Rochester 
Herald,  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  I  had  what  appears 
to  me  to  be  a  somewhat  unusual  experience,  —  so 
unusual,  in  fact,  that  its  impression  has  been  lasting. 

"  At  the  time  of  this  occurrence  I  had  been  doing 
some  extra  work,  and  was  feeling  considerably  worn 
out  and  extremely  sleepy. 

"  At  about  ten  o'clock  p.  m.  I  was  engaged  in 
taking  a  baseball  score  by  innings.  The  sending  of 
these  scores,  I  will  state  for  the  benefit  of  the  un- 
initiated, would  require  not  to  exceed  one-half  a 
minute  on  a  wire  worked  at  the  speed  the  report 
wires  are  worked.  I  had  taken  the  first  team  score, 
which  would  appear  about  as  follows: 

"  Chicago  —  000    QIC    001  —  2 

"  Boston  *  —  000    001    000  —  I 

"  At  the  point  marked  *  I  dropped  asleep.  I 
dreamed  that  I  started  on  a  long  vacation  trip.  New 
York  being  my  first  stopping- point.  The  trip  from 
Rochester  to  New  York  City  over  the  Central, 
especially  that  part  from  Albany  down  the  Hudson, 
vdth  its  beautiful  scenery,  was  one  of  the  many 
details  noted. 

"  After  reaching  New  York  I  seemed  to  have 
plenty  of  time  to  spare,  and  this  was  spent  in  visiting 
points  of  interest,  calhng  on  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances. About  two  weeks  were  spent  in  this  manner, 
when  I  started  for  Europe. 

"  The  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  was  a  pleasant 


28      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

one,  the  sightseeing  in  London  was  intensely  inter- 
esting, and  the  return  trip  all  that  could  be  desired, 
in  fact,  the  whole  trip  was  delightful,  the  more  so  as 
I  seemed  to  have  no  cares. 

"  The  entire  trip  occupied  about  six  weeks,  and 
I  seemed  to  be  greatly  benefited  thereby. 

"  When  I  awoke  my  first  thought  was  that  I  had 
about  finished  the  night,  and  instinctively  reached 
for  the  telegraph-key  to  find  out  how  much  '  report ' 
I  had  lost,  supposing,  of  course,  that  I  was  in  for 
trouble.  Upon  asking  New  York  what  he  was 
sending  he  replied :  '  Ball  scores,  Chicago-Boston.' 
I  started  him  on  the  Boston  score,  which  I  had  put 
down  in  very  small  figures  (as  per  above)  during 
my  sleep. 

"  How  it  was  done,  I  will  make  no  attempt  to 
explain,  I  simply  give  it  up.  The  figures  were  there, 
and  furthermore  they  were  correct. 

"  The  actual  time  consumed  by  me  in  taking  this 
imaginary  trip  could  not  have  exceeded  ten  seconds. 
I  had  absolutely  missed  nothing  in  the  report. 
Neither  had  the  circuit  been  interrupted  in  any  way, 
which  I  took  pains  to  verify.  The  explanation  of 
all  this,  I  leave  to  those  better  informed  on  such 
matters. 

"  My  friend  Mr.  Lee,^  to  whom  I  related  this 
little  experience  at  about  the  time  it  occurred,  \\'ill 
doubtless  remember  it,  as  will  also  others,  were  it 
really  worth  the  trouble  to  look  them  up." 

'  Mr.  Lee  is  a  friend  of  the  author. 


THE   SUBCONSCIOUS  29 

A  good  deal  is  being  said  just  now  about  the 
education  of  the  subconscious.  In  mercantile  affairs 
a  man  is  spoken  of  as  a  good  organizer,  which  means 
that  he  can  call  others  to  work  out  certain  details, 
confining  his  attention  to  the  larger  concern,  and  the 
relation  of  the  whole  to  the  outside  world.  . 

So  in  the  psychic  realm,  in  proportion  as  one  is 
developed  intellectually  has  he  relegated  to  the  sub- 
conscious the  routine  work  of  life.  So  long  as  things 
run  smoothly  in  his  mental  workshop  he  pays  no 
attention  to  it.  Should  an  accident  happen  in  any 
department,  the  central  office  is  immediately  in- 
formed, and  the  necessary  steps  taken  to  meet  the 
emergency. 

So  the  education  of  the  subconscious  is  simply 
the  formation  of  correct  habits,  and,  as  was  said 
before,  the  formation  of  a  habit  requires  acting  on 
the  impulse.  FaiHng  to  act,  the  next  time  the  impulse 
is  felt,  its  impulsiveness  is  lessened,  the  very  failing 
to  act  has  established  a  habit  of  inaction. 

Impulsiveness  must,  it  is  true,  be  curbed  by 
moderation,  but  excessive  indecision  is  worse. 

Many  a  man  will  fire  with  enthusiasms  over  some 
project,  but  failing  to  act,  soon  cools  down  to  a  state 
of  disinterestedness.  People  who  devote  an  excessive 
amount  of  time  to  fiction  and  the  theatre,  often 
mistake  their  sympathy  for  the  hero  for  a  real  virtue. 
This  sentimentality  soothes  their  consciences  in 
lieu  of  genuine  philanthropy^  and  their  fine  impulses 
are  barren  of  any  actual  good  deeds. 


30      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

Most  of  our  evidence  of  the  outer  world  comes 
thru  the  eyes  and  ears,  that  is,  every  object 
pictured  on  the  retina  and  every  sonorous  vibration 
the  unfaiUng  afferent  nerves  transmit  to  the  brain. 
There  are  many  examples  of  the  fact  that  "  having 
eyes  we  see  not  and  having  ears  we  hear  not,"  at 
least  consciously. 

A  well-authenticated  case  illustrative  of  this  is 
as  follows:  A  lady  was  startled  by  seeing  on  the 
wall,  as  if  thrown  by  a  flash-Hght,  a  notice  of  the 
death  of  a  friend.  The  wording  was  such  as  would 
appear  in  a  newspaper  notice.  Naturally  she  was 
very  much  startled,  and  the  wonder  grew  when 
the  inquiry  revealed  that  the  person  had  died  as 
stated. 

Reference  to  the  morning  paper  discovered  the 
identical  notice.  This  paper  she  had  read.  More- 
over, she  remembered  having  read  something  else 
which  was  in  the  same  column,  and  the  presump- 
tion is  that  the  notice  was  also  read  in  what  we 
commonly  call  an  "  absent-minded  way."  The 
conscious  mind  was  certainly  absent. 

Every  one  has  had  the  experience  of  reading  on, 
sometimes  for  pages,  and  then  suddenly  discovering 
that  he  had  been  thinking  of  something  entirely 
foreign  to  the  matter  read,  of  which  he  was  really 
ignorant.  Probably  it  was  registered  in  the  sub- 
conscious, but  ordinarily  the  subconscious  is  a 
sealed  book,  until  some  abnormal  experience  brings 
it   to  the  surface. 


THE   SUBCONSCIOUS  3  I 

This  ability  to  ignore  noises  and  sights,  and  to 
.apply  one's  self  to  other  problems  or  acts,  marks 
the  strong  mind,  the  power  to  be  in  the  crowd  but 
not  oj  it.  This  power  of  concentration  is  the  power 
of  inhibiting  extraneous  impressions,  and  it  may 
go  to  the  extent  of  absent-mindedness.  Every  one 
is  famihar  with  stories  of  mural  painters  so  engrossed 
in  their  work  that  they  have  fallen  from  their  scaf- 
folding or  been  rescued  only  by  some  timely  inter- 
ference. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  realize  of  what  un- 
speakable value  a  perfect  memory  would  be,  we 
long  for  some  method  of  tapping  this  reservoir. 

DECENTRATION 

It  is  a  somewhat  common  experience  that  one  is 
able  to  recollect  some  lost  fact  by  a  process  of 
dehberate  ^attention.  By  assuming  a  passive  non- 
concentration  the  mind  wanders  to  some  of  the 
associated  elements  of  the  "  moment  consciousness  " 
of  which  the  desired  item  was  a  part,  which  is  thus 
reached  by  direct  continuity.  This  is  in  striking 
analogy  to  retinal  perception.  In  looking  for  faint 
stars,  one  should  look  a  little  to  one  side  of  where 
the  star  is  known  to  be.  This  brings  the  retinal 
image  a  Uttle  to  one  side  of  the  fovea  centraHs,  and 
thus  aids  perception,  because  such  portions  are  more 
sensitive  to  light  stimulus.  The  visual  acuity  of  the 
fovea,  or  the  power  of  definition,  is  immensely 
superior  to  peripheral  portions.    This  phenomenon 


32      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

in  both  instances  might  be  called  </ecentration  of 
attention. 

Sidis  suggests  closing  the  eyes  and  putting  one's 
self  into  a  passive  state,  as  a  means  of  discovering 
the  subconscious.  This  will  again  be  referred  to 
under  auto-suggestion. 

GENIUS 

It  is  said  there  is  no  accounting  for  genius.  The 
authorship  of  Shakespeare's  plays  has  been  discussed 
at  great  length,  and  while  (to  use  the  words  of  Sir 
Roger  de  Coverley)  "  a  great  deal  might  be  said  on 
both  sides,"  the  principal  argument  against  the 
Shakespeare  claim  is  that  his  education,  "  knowing 
little  Latin  and  less  Greek,"  was  too  meager  to  make 
it  possible.  But  in  his  time  the  ale-house  was  the 
resort  of  those  great  lights  of  the  Elizabethan  Era. 
There  he  might  easily  have  absorbed  the  stories 
and  learned  talk  of  Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher,  and  hanging  around  the  theater  would 
have  made  him  famihar  with  the  plays  of  the  time. 
Indeed  the  free  use  of  anything  he  could  lay  his 
hands  on,  the  close  following  of  the  Holinshed 
Chronicles  in  the  English  historical  plays,  has  caused 
him  to  be  called  a  plagiarist. 

But  poets  have  been  notoriously  erratic  and 
unbalanced.  The  artistic  mood  seems  to  be  incom- 
patible with  that  dignified  self-control  which  we  so 
much  admire.  The  scientific  thinker  has  no  patience 
with  it.    Darwin  was  great  enough  to  recognize  the 


GENIUS  33 

incongruity  of  the  two  types  of  mind,  and  said  of 
himself,  that  ahho  quite  musical  in  his  youth,  he 
had  gradually  lost  the  power  to  enjoy  music.  The 
drunken  Bobbie  Bums  is  regarded  by  many  as  our 
greatest  English  poet.  Byron  and  Poe  were  cer- 
tainly not  well  balanced.  It  is  said  that  Coleridge's 
"  Ancient  Mariner "  was  the  result  of  an  opium 
dream. 

There  have  been  numerous  boy  calculators  whose 
powers  transcend  anything  attainable  by  the  greatest 
mathematicians.  The  writer  once  heard  an  **  in- 
spirational "  speaker  rattle  ofif  poetry  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  on  an  impromptu  subject.  Upon  this 
occasion  the  writer  offered  the  subject  of  the  "  Canal- 
boat,"  thinking  it  not  one  of  which  the  bards  had 
frequently  sung.  The  production  may  not  have  been 
of  a  high  order,  but  the  meter  was  good  and  it  was 
about  the  canal-boat,  the  words  recurring  very 
frequently.  The  recitation  began  almost  imme- 
diately after  the  subject  was  assigned,  and  lasted 
over  ten  minutes. 

Now  all  of  these  facts,  which  demand  explanation, 
suggest  the  possibility  that  they  are  manifestations 
of  subliminal  consciousness,  the  outpouring  of 
material  unconsciously  absorbed.  It  is  admitted 
that  little  proof  is  at  hand,  and  that  even  as  a  theory 
it  fails  to  cover  all  the  abnormal  manifestations. 

There  are  other  psychic  phenomena,  such  as 
clairvoyance,  or  the  power  to  see  without  the  eyes, 
and  clairaudience,  or  the  power  to  hear  beyond  the 


34      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

range  of  the  ears,  which  seem  to  be  well  established. 
Telepathy,  or  thought  transference,  is  believed  by 
many  whose  scientific  attainments  and  recognized 
standing  command  respect  of  their  opinions. 

It  is  cheerfully  admitted  that  these  manifestations 
are  at  present  abnormal.  Moreover,  genius  and 
insanity  are  closely  allied,  and  it  is  not  always  easy 
to  differentiate  them.  The  expediency  of  cultivating 
these  experiences  by  present  methods  is  perhaps 
questionable.  That  the  imagination  may  take  con- 
trol even  with  a  sound  mind  is  often  seen  in  children 
who  want  to  play  bear.  As  the  play  goes  on,  espe- 
cially if  some  fur  rugs  be  used,  the  auto-suggestion 
may  be  accepted  with  so  Httle  discrimination,  that 
the  child  really  becomes  terribly  scared. 

History  is  replete  with  mental  epidemics,  crusades, 
and  financial  panics,  which  are  thoroly  irrational. 

Undoubtedly  it  is  safer  to  keep  the  conscious  at 
the  helm,  to  challenge  all  new  impulses.  But  the 
problem  for  the  future  is  to  develop  some  rational 
method  of  utilizing  the  vast  resources  of  the  sub- 
conscious.    The  possibilities  are  infinite. 


CHAPTER    III 

SUMMARY 

Sensation.  —  Evolution  of  the  special  senses.  —  Doctrine  of  rela- 
tivity :  noumenon,  phenomenon.  —  Limitations  of  sense  per- 
ception.—  The  threshold.  ^  The  greatness  and  littleness  of 
human  intellect.  —  Special  senses,  a  refinement  of  tactile 
sense.  —  The  outward  reference  of  sensation.  —  The  correla- 
tion of  the  senses.  —  Visual  perceptions.  —  The  inverted 
retinal  image,  current  explanation  of  erect  vision :  tactile 
experience  reinverts  visual  sensation ;  incorrect,  because  not 
analogous  to  other  special  senses.  —  First  sight  of  congen- 
itally  blind  is  always  erect.  —  Mr.  Hanna's  experience.  —  Man 
ignorant  of  retinal  image.  Each  mathematical  point  of  object 
is  referred  back  to  its  proper  place,  and  we  see  not  the  retinal 
image,  but  the  object  itself  in  space. 

EVOLUTION  OF  SPECIAL  SENSES 

Sensation  is  the  means  of  communication  be- 
tween an  organism  and  the  outside  world,  —  the 
material  universe. 

When  a  nutrient  particle  comes  in  contact  with 
the  periphery  of  an  anieba,-  there  would  be  no  con- 
tractility, no  ingestion,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
the  cell  possesses  sensation,  of  which  the  various 
properties  of  protoplasm  are  manifestations.  The 
organism  would  remain  unconscious  of  its  environ- 
ment, —  would  stance  tho  surrounded  by  an  ocean 
of  food.  The  nervous  system  is  avowedly  of  the 
35 


36      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

lowest  order,  but  the  point  to  be  here  noted  is  that 
it  is  sufficient  for  the  needs  of  its  ovm  organization. 
However  meager  the  knowledge  thus  obtained  may 
be,  it  immensely  transcends  no  knowledge  at  all. 

Without  attempting  to  trace  the  stages  from  the 
ameba  to  man,  it  may  suffice  to  say  that  there  is 
evident  all  along  the  hne  an  elevation  of  the  function 
of  sensation.  This  has  followed  the  general  law  of 
evolution  "  from  the  simple  to  the  relatively  com- 
plex," that  is,  sensation  has  become  specialized. 
Besides  common  sensation,  man  has  the  so-called 
five  senses:   touch,  taste,  smell,  hearing,  and  sight. 

DOCTRINE   OF  RELATIVITY 

To  most  people  it  has  never  occurred  that  this 
beautiful  array  of  talents  leaves  anything  more  to 
be  desired.  We  think  we  know  the  material  universe 
because  we  can  touch,  taste,  smell,  hear,  and  see 
some  of  it.  But  what  reason  have  we  to  presume 
that  these  are  the  only  phases  of  matter? 

The  deaf  mute  has  no  conception  of  music.  To 
him  it  is  a  sealed  book.  A  race  of  deaf  mutes  would 
be  sure  that  they  knew  the  material  universe,  be- 
cause they  could  touch,  taste,  smell,  and  see  it. 
Imagine  their  idea  of  a  piano  or  a  barking  dog. 

Is  it  not  thus  apparent  that  we  are  probably 
obhvious  to  many  phases  of  matter?  These  five 
senses  are  like  so  many  doorways,  or  windows  thru 
which  the  ego  catches  glimpses  of  the  outer  world. 

Instead  of  saying  that  we  have  in  matter  some- 


DOCTRINE    OF   RELATIVITY  37 

thing  wc  really  know,  it  may  be  nearer  true  to  say 
that  we  really  know  more  of  the  attributes  of  mind, 
about  which  we  are  confessedly  ignorant.  For 
example,  one  may  know  certain  facts  about  a  table, 
that  it  is  two  feet  wide  and  three  feet  long,  that  it 
is  harder  than  his  knuckles,  but  the  sum  of  his 
knowledge  may  be  so  meager,  and  the  special  facts 
so  unimportant,  when  compared  with  all  the  facts 
about  it,  that  he  may  have  an  entirely  erroneous 
conception. 

Perhaps  this  can  be  illustrated  by  this  poem  by 
John  G.  Saxe. 

"THE    BLIND   MEN    AND    THE    ELEPHANT 

"A    HINDOO    FABLE 

"  It  was  six  men  of  Indostan, 

To  learning  much  inclined, 
Who  went  to  see  an  elephant 

(Tho  all  of  them  were  blind), 
That  each  by  observation 

Might  satisfy  his  mind. 

"  ThQ  first  approached  the  elephant, 

And  happening  to  fall 
Against  his  broad  and  sturdy  side, 

At  once  began  to  bawl : 
«  God  bless  me,  but  the  elephant 

Is  very  like  a  wall.' 

«'  The  second,  feeling  of  the  tusk, 
Cried :  '  Ho,  what  have  we  here 
So  very  round  and  smooth  and  sharp  ? 
To  me  'tis  mighty  clear 


38      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

This  wonder  of  an  elephant 
Is  very  like  a  spear.' 

'«  The  lAz'rci  approached  the  animal, 

And  happening  to  take 
The  squirming  trunk  within  his  hands, 

Thus  boldly  up  and  spake : 
'  I  see,'  quoth  he,  '  the  elephant 

Is  very  like  a  snake.' 

"  Tht  fourth  reached  out  his  eager  hand 

And  felt  above  the  knee. 
'What  most  this  wondrous  beast  is  like 
Is  mighty  plain,'  quoth  he; 

♦  'Tis  clear  enough  the  elephant 

Is  very  like  a  tree.' 

"  Tht/ifth,  who  chanced  to  touch  the  ear, 
Said :  '  E'en  the  blindest  man 

Can  tell  what  this  resembles  most : 
Deny  the  fact  who  can  ? 

This  marvel  of  an  elephant 
Is  very  like  a  fan.' 

"  The  sixth  no  sooner  had  begun 
About  the  beast  to  grope, 
Than  seizing  on  the  swinging  tail 
That  fell  within  his  scope, 

•  I  see,'  quoth  he,  '  the  elephant 

Is  very  like  a  rope.' 

<•  And  so  these  men  of  Indostan 

Disputed  loud  and  long 
Each  in  his  own  opinion 

Exceeding  stiff  and  strong, 
Tho  each  was  partly  in  the  right 

And  all  were  in  the  wrong. 


DOCTRINE   OF   RELATIVITY  39 

"  MORAL 

"  So  oft  in  theologic  wars 

The  disputants,  I  ween, 
Rail  on  in  utter  ignorance 

Of  what  each  other  mean, 
And  prate  about  an  elephant 

Which  none  of  them  has  seen." 

NOUMENON  AND  PHENOMENON 

John  Fiske  expresses  this  in  his  "  Cosmic  Philos- 
ophy," thus:  "The  doctrine  of  relativity  affirms 
the  existence  of  an  unknowable  reality  of  which  all 
phenomena  whatever  are  the  knowable  manifesta- 
tions." To  this  unknowable  is  given  the  name  of 
noumenon  or  the  real  thing,  in  distinction  from 
phenomenon,  which  is  the  increment  man  knows 
of  the  real  thing. 

The  story  is  told  that  when  a  missionary  visited 
some  Indians  and  explained  to  them  the  Christian 
theology,  vdth  considerable  emphasis  on  the  final 
state  of  the  unredeemed,  the  chief  showed  con- 
siderable skepticism.  With  an  arrow  he  drew  a 
small  circle  in  the  sand,  then  a  larger  circle  enclosing 
the  first.  Pointing  to  the  inner  circle,  he  said : 
"  This  is  what  Indian  know."  Pointing  to  the 
outer  circle:  "This  is  what  white  man  know." 
Then  sweeping  the  arrow  outside  the  periphery  of 
the  larger  circle :  "  Out  here  Indian  know  just  as 
much  as  white  man." 

As  a  further  illustration  may  be  mentioned  the 
old  story  of  the  doctor  who  denied  the  existence  of 


40      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

the  soul,  because  his  dissecting  knife  failed  to  reveal 
anything  of  this  nature.  He  would  believe  nothing 
that  he  could  not  see.  Then  the  minister  asks  him 
if  he  can  see  a  pain,  and  if  not  why  he  believes  in 
pain.  Of  course  he  rephes  that  he  feels  the  pain, 
whereupon  the  clergyman  rephes  that  he  knows 
of  spiritual  matters  by  other  senses,  which  are 
(perhaps)  in  the  doctor  undeveloped. 

The  mental  attitude  which  is  undaunted  by  the 
restraints  of  the  evidence  of  the  senses  is  undoubt- 
edly dangerous  to  the  attainment  of  truth.  To  claim 
that  one  possesses  transcendental  royal  roads  to 
knowledge  is  intolerable  to  the  scientific  mind,  yet 
a  recognition  of  the  hmitations  of  our  knowledge 
of  the  simplest  fact  must  have  a  salutary  efifect  upon 
our  egotistic  tendencies. 

This  relativity  is  especially  apparent  when  we 
consider  the  special  senses.  For  example,  the 
membrana  tympana  is  made  to  vibrate  in  unison 
with  waves  of  air  emanating  from  some  sonorous 
body,  but  those  waves  must  reach  a  velocity  of 
sixteen  per  second  before  they  are  audible  to  the 
human  ear.  We  have  abundant  evidence  that  the 
solar  spectrum  extends  far  beyond  the  visible 
spectrum.  The  wonderful  development  of  the  sense 
of  smell  in  the  dog  simply  baffles  our  comprehension. 

"  Thus  we  learn,"  as  Spencer  says  in  his  "  First 
Principles,"  "  the  greatness  and  the  httleness  of 
the  human  intellect  —  its  power  in  deahng  with  all 
that   comes   within   the   range   of   experience;    its 


EVOLUTION   OF   THE   SENSES  4 1 

impotence  in  dealing  with  all  that  transcends  ex- 
perience." 

THE  TACTILE   SENSE 

As  the  more  delicate  senses  have  evolved  from 
simple  sensitiveness  to  contact  or  the  touch  sense, 
it  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  a  simple  refinement 
of  this  contact  sense  is  evident  thruout.  Taste 
requires  that  the  article  brought  in  contact  with 
the  sense  organ  shall  be  soluble.  In  smell,  which 
is  closely  allied,  the  contact  of  finely  divided  particles 
of  matter  is  effected  by  their  floating  in  the  air.  The 
matter  may  be  as  finely  divided  as  the  gaseous  state. 
Hearing  requires  only  the  contact  of  air  itself  in 
waves,  but  still  contact  is  here.  The  hammer-hke 
form  of  the  organ  of  Corti  is  very  suggestive  of  this 
essential  element  contact. 

The  end  organs  of  the  optic  nerve  are  the  rods 
and  cones  of  the  retina.  The  contact  here  is  the 
extreme  refinement  of  touch.  The  ether  wave 
initiated  by  the  luminous  body  is  condensed  by  the 
lenticular  system  of  the  eye  into  an  irritant  point, 
the  focus,  which  touches  the  retina.  This  principle 
of  contact  and  the  fact  that  the  special  senses  are 
merely  a  refinement  of  the  same  are  of  immense 
advantage  in  explaining  some  of  our  sight  percep- 
tions. 

The  other  general  principle  which  should  be 
recognized  is  the  outward  reference  0}  sensation. 
The  common  experience  of  striking  the  ulnar  nerve 
at  the  elbow  and  feeling  the  sensation  at  the  tip  of 


42      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

the  little  finger  illustrates  a  general  principle  which 
applies  to  all  the  senses. 

This  outward  reference  may  be  made  to  extend 
beyond  the  finger.  Tap  the  floor  with  a  somewhat 
flexible  cane  with  the  eyes  closed  and  we  feel  the 
contact  at  the  end  of  the  cane. 

Perhaps  we  have  all  had  the  unpleasant  experience 
of  "  seeing  stars  "  from  a  blow  on  the  eye.  This  is 
because  an  irritation  of  the  optic  nerve  gives  a  sen- 
sation of  light  which  is  referred  outward  into  space. 
This  is  also  proof  of  the  specialization  of  the  optic 
nerve.  Moreover,  the  testimony  of  those  from  whom 
it  has  been  necessary  to  remove  the  eye  without  an 
anesthetic  is  that,  when  the  optic  nerve  is  divided, 
not  pain  but  a  flash  of  light  is  the  resulting  sensation. 

This  outward  reference  of  the  sense  of  hearing  is 
one  means  of  estimating  direction.  Notice  the  in- 
voluntary turning  of  the  head  so  as  to  put  the  auricle 
at  right  angles  to  the  sound  wave.  This  is  in  obedi- 
ence of  the  general  law  that  all  irritations  reaching 
these  special  senses  are  referred  back  to  their  source. 

SIGHT 

The  refinement  of  touch  and  outward  reference 
reaches  its  highest  development  in  sight. 

Primitive  eyes  and  ears  bear  a  strong  resemblance 
to  each  other.  Later  the  eye  has  for  its  prototype  the 
pigment  spot.  This  suggests  that  sight  developed 
first  as  an  actinic  susceptibility,  the  pigment  spot  ab- 
sorbed the  heat  of  the  luminous  body,  and  thus  be- 


THE   INVERTED    IMAGE  43 

came  conscious  of  that  which  had  heretofore  been  an 
unknown  world. 

It  is  necessary  to  touch  upon  the  embryolog}'  of  the 
eye  only  for  its  psychological  bearing,  that  is,  the 
development  of  sight.  Notice  then  that  the  sensitive 
area  becomes  depressed,  then  cupped.  This  shape 
protects  better  and  also  increases  the  recognition  of 
direction.  For  greater  protection  the  cavity  becomes 
closed  and  the  cornea  and  lens  develop.  For  what 
purpose?  Evidently  to  collect  the  scattered  rays  of 
light  and  converge  them,  and  focus  them  in  a  minute 
point  on  the  retina.  Acute  sight  demands  perfect 
focusing. 

Now  let  us  apply  the  general  law  of  sense  percep- 
tion and  the  outward  reference  of  sensation  to  one  of 
the  psychological  problems  of  sight,  one  which  has 
been  very  generally  misinterpreted. 

The  Inverted  Image.  —  It  is  well  known  that  the 
image  on  the  retina  is  inverted.  How  does  it  hap- 
pen that  we  see  objects  erect  ?  The  vmter  devoted 
considerable  attention  to  this  subject  some  years 
ago,  ransacking  all  attainable  literature. 

Most  of  the  physiologies  agree  that  it  is  wholly  the 
result  of  experience,  that  the  child  learns  by  touch 
to  reinvert  the  retinal  picture.  Foster's  explanation 
is  as  follov^'S : 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  field  of  vision,  in  one  im- 
portant particular,  does  not  correspond  to  the  field 
of  external  objects.  The  image  is  inverted.  The 
rays  of  light  proceeding  from  an  object  which  hy 


44      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

touch  we  know  to  be  on  what  we  call  our  right-hand 
fall  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  retina.  If,  therefore, 
the  field  of  vision  corresponded  to  the  retinal  image 
the  object  would  be  seen  on  the  left  hand.  We,  how- 
ever, see  it  on  the  right  hand,  because  we  invariably 
associate  right  hand  tactile  locaHzation  with  left  hand 
visual  sensation.  That  is  to  say,  the  field  of  vision, 
when  interpreted  by  touch,  is  a  reinversion  of  the 
retinal  image." ' 

Martin,  in  his  work  on  "  The  Human  Body,"  says : 
"  A  new-born  child,  even  supposing  it  could  use  its 
muscles  perfectly,  could  not  seize  a  reachable  object 
which  it  saw.  It  would  not  yet  have  learned  that 
attaining  a  point  exciting  that  part  of  the  retina  above 
the  fovea  (center)  meant  reaching  a  position  in  space 
below  the  visual  axis;  but  very  soon  it  learns  that 
things  near  its  brow,  that  is,  up,  excite  certain  visual 
sensations,  and  objects  below  its  eyes,  others;  and 
learns  to  interpret  retinal  stimuli,  so  as  to  locahze 
accurately  the  directions,  with  reference  of  its  eyes 
to  outer  objects,  and  never  henceforth  gets  puzzled 
by  retinal  inversion." 

These  two  statements  are  fairly  representative,  and 
altho  clear  and  lucid,  are  not  only  inadequate,  but 
erroneous. 

First.  This  reversal  by  one  sense,  the  tactile,  of 
the  testimony  of  the  outer  world,  as  given  by  another 
sense,  the  visual,  is  not  analogous  to  the  other  spe- 
cial senses;  and  during  the  learning  lapses  would 

'  Physiology. 


THE   INVERTED   IMAGE  45 

occur  and  pathology  would  furnish  instances  of 
mistakes. 

Second.  Certain  forms  of  congenital  blindness, 
such  as  cataracts  and  complete  closure  of  the  pupil, 
can  be  remedied  by  operation.  These  children  learn 
by  touch  the  correct  (erect)  position  of  objects,  and 
their  first  impression  when  sight  is  restored  would  be 
an  inversion  of  the  object,  according  to  the  current 
theory.  As  far  as  the  author  knows  no  case  of  this 
kind  has  ever  been  recorded. 

Dr.  J.  L.  Minor,  Memphis,  Tenn.,  reported  to  the 
writer  in  November,  1898,  two  cases  of  congenital 
cataracts.  The  patients  were  brothers  between 
thirty  and  forty  years  of  age,  and  had  never  seen. 
After  removing  the  cataracts  the  doctor  kept  these 
men  under  observation  for  a  month,  and  assures  us 
"  there  was  never  even  a  suggestion  of  inverted  im- 
ages." 

The  case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hanna,  reported  by  Sidis, 
who  after  falhng  from  his  carriage  lost  all  memory 
of  his  former  life  experience,  is  a  unique  bit  of  evi- 
dence. He  was  as  a  newly  bom  infant  opening  his 
eyes  for  the  first  time  on  the  world.  So  totally  ob- 
literated from  memory  were  the  experiences  of  his 
past  life  that  even  the  simplest  mental  processes,  like 
the  appreciation  of  distance,  form,  size,  and  mag- 
nitude, were  effaced  from  his  mind,  but  objects  were 
seen  erect. 

Mr.  Hanna's  subsequent  statement  is  as  follows: 
"  The   eyes   suddenly   opened   quite   involuntarily, 


46      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

and  here  indeed  was  a  new  world  of  wonder  and 
study.  Objects  were  all  alike  as  to  distance,  shape, 
and  thickness,  but  the  variety  of  color  was  the  feature 
of  interest.  The  room  was  a  great  beautiful  picture, 
absolutely  without  movement  or  distance  beyond  the 
eye."  ^ 

Furthermore,  this  is  a  misconception,  based  on  the 
old  theory  of  special  immediate  creation  of  perfected 
organisms,  and  finds  no  place  in  the  scientific  thought 
of  to-day.  It  is  inconsistent  with  the  facts  of  evolu- 
tion, which  means  a  regular  progression  from  the 
simple  to  the  relatively  complex ;  and  the  explanation 
of  the  phenomena  of  sight  must  cover  the  primitive 
eye,  as  well  as  the  perfected  organ. 

The  function  of  the  primitive  eye  must  have  been 
limited  to  simple  sensitiveness  to  hght,  and  the  im- 
pHcation  of  the  law  of  natural  selection,  that  every 
minute  change  which  was  continued  was  of  greater 
advantage  to  its  possessor  than  a  preceding  stage, 
absolutely  excludes  the  tactile  reinversion  theory. 
The  speciahzation  of  a  sense  organ  in  such  a  way 
that  its  evidence  of  the  outer  world  was  misleading 
(inverted)  until  corrected  (reinverted)  by  some  other 
sense  organ  (touch),  could  not  have  been  of  more  ad- 
vantage to  its  possessor  than  a  less  highly  developed 
organ  which  could  be  trusted ;  and  natural  selection 
would  have  carefully  avoided  propagating  any  such 
variation. 

The  inversion  is  an  accomphshed  fact  as  soon  as 

'  Sidis  :  Multiple  Personality. 


THE   INVERTED   IMAGE  47 

the  primitive  eye  is  able  to  locate  an  external  point 
in  space,  for  it  can  never  see  the  point  till  it  can  tell 
its  direction. 

The  subsequent  changes  are  all  along  this  hne  of 
so  perfecting  the  mechanism  that  a  luminous  point 
in  space  shall  produce  an  irritant  point  on  the  retina. 
Thus  there  is  no  break  in  the  contemporaneous  de- 
velopment of  the  organ  of  seeing  and  the  psychical 
act  of  seeing.  They  advance  with  equal  step.  There 
is  no  catastrophe;  no  period  when  the  optical  ap- 
paratus gives  wrong  impressions  to  the  sensory. 

It  is  indeed  strange  that  ophthalmologists  have  so 
universally  neglected  to  elucidate  this  puzzhng  phe- 
nomenon, and  in  what  follows  the  author  is  borrow- 
ing from  Le  Conte,'  whose  explanation  is  the  only 
satisfactory  one  which  has  come  to  his  notice. 

A  cone  of  light  emitted  by  a  radiant  point  falling 
on  a  convex  refracting  surface  is  again  converged  to 
a  point  behind  the  refracting  surface.  These  two 
points  are  called  conjugate  foci  (Hterally  yoked  to- 
gether), because  if  the  radiant  be  placed  at  either 
focus  the  hght  will  be  brought  to  a  point  at  the  other 
focus.    (Fig.  I.) 

Fig.  I.  —  Conjugate  Foci. 

In  the  normal  eye,  at  rest,  a  luminous  point  twenty 
feet  or  more  distant  is  focused  as  a  point  on  the 
'  Sight,  i88o. 


48      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

retina.  (Fig.  2.)  If  the  luminous  point  be  nearer 
than  twenty  feet,  the  refracting  or  bending  effect  of 
the  eye  must  be  increased  (accommodated)  so  that 


Fig.  2.  —  Normal  Eye  at  Rest,  Focused  for  Distance. 


the  conjugate  focus  shall  still  be  at  the  retina.  (Fig. 
3.)  This  is  accomplished  by  increasing  the  thickness 
of  the  crystalline  lens,  shown  by  the  dotted  line,  Fig. 


Fig.  3.  —  Accommodation  for  Near  Vision  by  Increased 
Thickening  of  the  Lens. 

3.  As  before  stated,  when  the  eye  is  able  to  reproduce 
a  luminous  point  in  space  as  an  irritant  point  on  the 
retina,  the  optical  requirements  for  perfect  vision  are 
secured. 

Now  "outward  projection  "  means  that  the  retina 
is  touched  at  this  mathematical  point,  and,  like  all 
other  senses,  it  refers  the  sensation  back  to  the  source ; 
in  this  case  along  the  central  hne  of  the  pencil  of  rays. 

The  size  of  the  image  on  the  retina  of  the  largest 
object  that  can  be  seen  at  all  clearly  at  one  time  with- 


THE   INVERTED   IMAGE  49 

out  moving  the  eye  or  the  object  is  probably  not 
greater  than  three  miUimcters. 

Conversely,  the  field  of  vision  —  of  clear  vision  — 
with  an  immovable  eye  is  extremely  limited.  At 
the  length  of  the  arm  a  circle  the  size  of  the  thumb- 
nail represents  all  that  can  be  seen  clearly,  and  it  is 
only  by  rapid  excursions  that  the  eye  sees  in  detail 
those  portions  that  were  only  outhncd  before.'  The 
field  of  vision  has  been  compared  to  a  painting  which 
is  hazy  and  indistinct  except  a  circle  one-half  inch 
in  diameter,  in  which  the  most  minute  details  are 
worked  out.  This  small  area  may  be  any  portion  of 
the  picture  which  is  desired,  by  turning  the  eye 
toward  that  spot,  but  no  two  places  at  once.  It  is 
hard  to  beheve  this,  for  the  eye,  by  rapid  excursions, 
so  quickly  covers  a  large  field  that  the  separate  sen- 
sations are  fused  into  one. 

Now,  the  analogy  and  bearing  of  this  is  important 
when  it  is  understood  that  we  do  not  see  even  this 
one-half  inch  object  as  a  whole.  Each  mathematical 
point  of  which  the  object  is  composed  sends  out  its 
bundle  of  rays,  which  are  again  converged  to  a  point 
upon  the  retina,  and  from  this  irritation  conveyed  to 

1  According  to  Suter:  "  Refraction  and  Motility  of  the  Eye," 
page  142.  "The  fovea  centralis,  upon  which  falls  the  image  of 
every  object  attracting  mental  attention,  does  not  exceed  0.4 
mm.  in  diameter."  Taking  the  distance  of  the  nodal  point  in 
front  of  the  retina  to  be  15  mm.  (Dennett),  by  a  very  simple 
problem  of  similar  triangles,  it  is  demonstrable  that,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  one-half  meter,  an  object  to  be  discerned  with  normal 
acuity  cannot  exceed  13.5-t-  mm.  in  diameter. 


50      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

the  brain  sensation  (sight)  results,  which  refers  the 
irritant  right  back  along  the  ray-line  of  each  pencil 
to  its  source.  So  point  after  point  irritates  the  retina, 
and  is  referred  to  its  appropriate  place  in  space  until 
the  luminous  object  is  reproduced  in  the  external 
world  by  the  outward  projection  of  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  luminous  points. 

To  make  this  clear,  a  very  simple  object  should  be 
used;  let  it  be  a  vertical  line.  (Fig.  4.)    Now  a  lumi- 


c 
Fig.  4.  —  The  Outward  Projection  of  the  Retinal  Image. 

nous  point  at  the  top  of  this  line  produces  an  irritant 
point  at  the  lower  side  of  the  retina,  which  is  referred 
back  to  its  source  above  and  seen  there  in  space. 

A  luminous  point  at  the  bottom  of  this  Hne  pro- 
duces an  irritant  point  on  the  upper  side  of  the  retina, 
and  is  referred  back  to  its  position  in  space,  which  is 
below.  A  point  from  the  center  is  referred  back  to 
its  place  in  the  centre  for  the  same  reason.  And  so 
vdth  a  point  midway  from  the  center  to  the  top,  and  a 
point  midway  from  the  center  to  the  bottom ;  and  the 
process  goes  on  simultaneously  for  each  point  of 
which  the  Hne  is  composed,  and  a  sort  of  mental 
composite  results,  which  is  the  exact  counterpart  of 
the  object,  occupying  the  identical  position  in  space ; 


THE   INVERTED    IMAGE  5  I 

somewhat  as  a  spiritual  body  is  conceived  to  be  im- 
manent in  the  natural  body. 

The  soHd  lines  represent  the  pencils  of  rays,  the 
broken  lines  the  axial  rays  of  each  pencil,  showing 
the  direction  of  the  outward  reference  of  the  three 
irritant  points  illustrated. 

To  recapitulate:  By  the  law  of  conjugate  foci,  a 
luminous  point  in  space  corresponds  to  an  irritant 
point  on  the  retina.  By  the  law  of  outward  projec- 
tion it  is  referred  to  its  proper  place  in  the  object,  and, 
as  the  object  is  not  seen  as  a  whole,  an  infinite  num- 
ber of  such  luminous  points  of  which  the  object  is 
composed  are  referred  to  their  respective  positions, 
and  furnish  a  synthetic  conception,  which  must  be 
erect  because  each  of  its  constituent  points  is  in  its 
place. 

Since  Newton,  scientists  have  recognized  that  for 
one  body  to  act  upon  another  at  a  distance,  some 
medium  must  intervene.  So  vrith  sight,  the  pro- 
visional ether  is  that  intermediate  something  which 
reaches  from  the  lumJnous  point  and  "  touches  "  the 
retina.  The  unhmited  extent  of  the  ether  gives 
to  sight  unlimited  range,  and,  altho  light  travels 
186,000  miles  per  second,  it  takes  three  and 
a  half  years  for  Hght  to  reach  us  from  the  nearest 
star. 

Professor  Dolbear  says :  "  The  light  which  reaches 
us  to-day  from  some  of  the  more  distant  stars 
left  them  before  America  was  discovered ;  before 
Jesus  was  bom;    before  the  pyramids  were  built, 


52      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

and,  for  all  we  should  be  ab]e  to  see,  they  may 
have  ceased  to  exist  long  ago,  tho  their  hght  still 
shines."  ^ 

While  this  work  was  in  press  there  appeared  in 
Current  Literature,  September,  1906,  an  article  en- 
titled "  A  New  Theory  of  Vision."  This  was  a  quo- 
tation from  Cosmos,  Paris,  of  the  work  of  Mr.  George 
Poullaine,  who  claimed  to  have  discovered  "  a  loop 
or  twist  in  the  optic  nerve."  The  twist  is  in  the  pro- 
tuberance of  the  outer  and  posterior  parts  of  the 
optical  layer  of  the  brain.  "  The  pecuHar  conforma- 
tion explains,"  says  Cosmos,  "  the  reinversion  of  the 
retinal  image. 

"  The  optic  nerves,  after  emerging  from  the  eye- 
balls, converge  to  the  optic  chiasma.  Here  they 
partly  cross,  or  seem  to  exchange  part  of  their  fibers. 
The  two  nerve  bundles  thus  modified  separate  and 
pass  around  the  peduncles.  In  this  part  of  their 
course  they  are  known  as  the  optical  bands  or  Gas- 
set's  hemopic  nerves, 

"  These  bands  enter  the  brain.  Their  fibers  can 
be  traced  in  the  pulvinar,  where  they  describe  con- 
centric curves.  They  can  be  traced  also  in  other 
portions  of  the  optical  layer,  where  they  are  known 
as  Gratiolet's  optic  rays. 

"  In  order  to  more  correctly  ascertain  the  paths  of 
the  fibers,  Poullaine  studied  and  measured  sections 
of  the  loop  made  by  a  horizontal  plane  and  by  two 
vertical  planes,  anterior,  posterior,  and   transverse. 

*  Matter,  Ether,  and  Motion. 


THE   INVERTED   IMAGE  53 

.  .  .  The  theory,"  according  to  Cosmos,  "  makes  it 
easy  to  understand  the  mechanism  of  the  reinversion 
of  the  retinal  image.  The  double  curve  efifects  a 
complete  reversal  of  the  order  of  the  nerve  fibers 
both  from  top  to  bottom  and  from  right  to  left,  the 
two  half-turns  being  exactly  equivalent  to  a  half- 
twist  or  rotation  thru  i8o  degrees  about  the  axis  of 
the  bundle." 

Individual  anatomical  variations  of  all  parts  of 
the  human  body  are  frequently  discovered  by  sur- 
geons. The  location  and  number  of  the  branches 
of  the  arteries,  veins,  and  nerves  are  not  the 
same  in  different  individuals.  Is  it  reasonable  to 
presume  that  the  optic  nerves  are  an  exception  to 
this  rule?  If  not,  then  there  are  many  people 
whose  optic  nerves  do  not  twist  the  exact  i8o  degrees 
required. 

If  erect  vision  depends  upon  this  condition,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  a  faulty  or  anomalous  development  would 
furnish  instances  of  partial  or  complete  inverted 
vision.  Very  many  cases  of  this  kind  are  needed  to 
substantiate  this  very  ingenious  theory,  and  none  are 
given.  Moreover,  the  theory  is  based  on  the  mis- 
conception that  we  see  the  image,  not  on  the  retina, 
as  the  tactile  reinversion  theory  presumes,  but  at  some 
other  portion  of  the  cranium.  In  a  very  recent  work 
Doctor  Souter  says :  "  It  is  apparent  that  the  retinal 
image  is  always  inverted  with  respect  to  the  object 
of  vision.  The  mind,  however,  takes  no  cognizance 
of  this  inversion,  since  it  possesses  the  power  0}  exter- 


54      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

not  projection  so  that  we  see  not  the  image  but  the 
object  in  its  true  position." ' 

Then  the  writer  proceeds  to  repeat  the  old  argu- 
ment of  tactile  reinversion  as  follows :  "  This  power 
has  doubtless  been  derived  thru  association  with  the 
sense  of  touch.  We  have  learned  that  a  stimulus 
conveyed  to  the  brain  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
retina  proceeds  from  an  object  situated  below  the  eye, 
and  vice  versa,  and  that  a  stimulus  on  the  temporal 
side  of  the  retina  must  proceed  from  an  object  on  the 
nasal  side  of  the  eye,  and  vice  versa." 

» The  Eye  and  Nervous  System.  Posey  and  Spiller.  Lippin- 
cott,  April,  1906,  p.  35. 


CHAPTER    IV 

SUMMARY 

The  blind  spots  ;  the  two  optic  discs.  —  Retinal  shadows :  erect, 
because  cast  by  objects  too  near  the  eye  to  form  image  on 
retina;  outward  projection  of,  produces  inverted  image. — 
Outward  reference  of  tactile  sense  ;  flexible  cane.  —  Monocu- 
lar estimation  of  distance.  —  Difficult  without  parallax.  —  Law 
of  corresponding  points.  —  Each  ganglion  cell  two  neurons, 
divide  for  both  retinas.  —  Orientation,  with  prism.  —  Diplopia : 

—  physiological  at  distances  farther  or  nearer  than  point  fixed. 

—  Analogy  of  digital  tactile  sense.  —  Binocular  estimation  of 
distance.  —  Fusing  successive  double  images.  —  Coordina- 
tion of  convergence  and  accommodation.  —  Stereoscopic  per- 
spective. —  Pictures  correspond  to  right  and  left  retinal 
images.  —  Convergence  required  to  fuse,  determines  distance ; 
convergence  excessive,  nearness  ;  convergence  slight,  distance. 

—  May  overcome  mathematical  perspective.  —  Binocular  vis- 
ion an  acquired  faculty.  —  Fusion  training.  —  The  amblyo- 
scope.  —  Phoro-optometer  stereoscope.  —  Controlled  reading. 

THE   BLIND   SPOTS 

Each  optic  disc,  which  is  the  head  of  the  nerve, 
is  a  blind  spot,  but  the  fact  escapes  our  attention  be- 
cause ordinarily  the  image  cannot  fall  on  both  at  the 
same  time,  so  that  one  or  the  other  eye  can  always 
see  every  point  in  the  binocular  field.  Indeed,  if 
only  one  eye  be  used,  the  blind  spot  is  so  small  and 
eccentric  that  it  is  never  noticed. 

To  demonstrate  in  right  eye.    (Fig.  5.) 
Close  left,  hold  paper  so  that  2  is  directly  in  front 
55 


56       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

of  and  on  level  with  the  right,  about  eight  inches 
away.    Fix  the  sight  on  i  and  bring  the  paper  slowly 


+  5 


!• 


Fig.  5.  —  Diagram  to  Demonstrate  the  Blind  Spot. 

toward  face.  At  about  five  inches  distant  3  disap- 
pears, reappearing  again  at  about  four  inches.  The 
figure  may  be  reversed  for  left  eye. 


RETINAL   SHADOWS 

Objects  too  near  the  eye  to  be  focused  on  retina 
cast  shadows  which  are  erect,  but  the  outward  refer- 
ence of  a  direct  shadow  gives  an  inverted  image  in 
space. 

Demonstration  (Fig.  6).  —  Hold  pin,  head  up, 
so  close  to  eye  that  it  touches  the  lashes.    A  visiting- 


FiG.  6.  —  The  Inverted  Retinal  Shadow. 

card  with  pinhole  perforation  is  now  brought  up 
with  hole  in  fine  with  head  of  pin.  The  object  is 
seen  in  space  beyond  the  card,  that  is,  the  shadow 
is  referred  to  the  place  which  an  object  would  occupy 


PARALLAX 


57 


normally  to  produce  such  an  image  on  the  retina. 
This  is  indicated  in  figure  by  broken  Hncs. 

Outward  reference  of  tactile  sense  may  be  made 
to  extend  beyond  the  finger. 

Demonstration.  —  With  a  flexible  rattan  cane  one 
should  feel  his  way  about  the  room  blindfolded. 
The  sense  of  feehng  the  point  of  contact  between 
cane  and  wall  or  floor  is  very  vivid.  In  . 
the  same  way  the  surgeon  feels  with  the 
point  of  probe  or  knife. 

Estimation  of  distance  depends  upon 
the  refinement  of  muscle  sense.  It  is 
both  monocular  and  binocular.  That 
this  is  not  a  congenital  faculty  is  illus- 
trated by  the  child  reaching  for  the 
moon. 

When  Doctor 
Sidis'  patient,  Mr. 
Hanna  previously 
referred  to,  first 
opened  his  eyes, 
"  a  great  fiat  pic- 
ture was  before 
him."  Objects  were  seen  in  their  proper  direction, 
but  he  could  not  distinguish  between  far  and  near. 

To  illustrate  our  dependence  on  parallax,  with  one 
eye  closed,  attempt  to  bring  the  finger  down  on  the 
point  of  a  pencil  held  by  another.  If  this  is  held  against 
a  side  wall  the  parallax  makes  the  estimation  easy. 

Let  A  (Fig.  7)  be  the  pencil.    We  learn  by  expe- 


FiG.  7.  —  Monocular  Estimation 
OF  Distance  by  Parallax. 


58       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

rience  just  how  much  contraction  of  the  muscle  M 
is  required  to  turn  the  eye  so  as  to  "  fix"  i,  2,  and 
3,  respectively,  and  so  determine  distance  by  this 
muscle  sense. 

A  good  method  of  eliminating  parallax  is  to  look 
at  a  coin  on  a  table  with  the  eye  a  Httle  below  the 
level  of  the  table,  so  that  the  edge  of  table  and  coin 
are  visible,  but  not  the  top  of  table.  (Fig.  8.)  As 
before,  the  other  eye  must  be  closed  and  the  coin 


'MSMmm 


Fig.  8.  —  Diagram   to   Illustrate    Difficulty   of   Esti- 
mating Distance  without  Parallax. 

must  be  placed  by  another  person  after  the  eye 
has  taken  the  correct  position.  Several  trials  will 
be  necessary  to  bring  the  finger  down  on  the  coin. 

Binocular  single  vision  depends  upon  the  law 
that  images  falling  on  identical  portions  of  the  two 
retinae  cause  the  sensation  of  one  object. 

This  is  because  each  ganglion  cell  has  two  neurons 
which  run  together  in  the  optic  tracts,  but  part 
company  at  the  chiasm,  one  going  to  the  outer  half 
of  the  retina  of  the  same  side  and  the  other  crossing 
over  to  the  inner  half  of  the  retina  of  the  other 
eye.  (Fig.  9.) 

Pathology  furnishes  additional  proof  of  this,  in 
cases  of  hemianopsia  or  one-sided  bhndness.    Here 


BINOCULAR    VISION 


59 


a  lesion  of  the  right  optic  tract  will  cause  loss  of  the 
left  field  of  both  eyes. 
Orientation.  —  If  a  prism  of  six  diopters  be  held 


UuESJoH 


Fig.  9. 


■  The  Partial  Crossing  of  the  Fibers  of  the 
Optic  Nerves. 


base  down  before  one  eye,  diplopia  results,  because 
the  prism  deflects  the  light  from  the  object  to  some 
other  than  the  corresponding  point. 


Fig.  10. —  False  Orientation  Produced  by  Prism. 

The  image  will  fall  on  the  lower  part  of  the  retina, 
and  the  object  will  be  referred  to  a  point  above,  which 
would  normally  excite  that  portion  of  the  retina. 
This  is  called  false  orientation,  and  is  exactly  what 
happens  when  the  inferior  rectus  is  paralyzed,  and 


6o      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

the  resulting  diplopia  produces  false  orientation. 
The  patient  has  a  false  idea  of  his  own  position  in 
space  with  relation  to  other  objects. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  that  objects  farther  or 
nearer  than  the  objects  looked  at  are  always  seen 
double.  For  example,  if  the  eyes  fix  a  point  (A, 
Fig.  ii)  the  images  A'  A'  fall  on  corresponding  points 


Fig.  II.  —  Physiological  Diplopia  of  Objects   Farther 
OR  Nearer  than  the  Point  Fixed. 


which^are  end  organs  corresponding  to  a  pair  of 
neurons,  therefore  a  single  impression  is  the  result. 

Light  from  B  falls  upon  end  organs  belonging 
to  neurons  not  pairs  from  the  same  ganglion  cell. 
In  fact,  in  this  illustration  they  may  belong  to 
opposite  tracts.  The  result  is  two  images  of  B,  B'B'. 

Demonstration.  —  Most  people  find  it  difficult  to 
see  the  double  images  of  a  single  object  like  a  pencil. 


PHYSIOLOGICAL   DIPLOPIA  6 1 

Look  at  some  object  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room,  and  bring  up  the  two  index  fingers  into  the 
line  of  vision.  Keep  the  eyes  focused  on  the  wall, 
but  notice  the  fingers.  Separate  the  fingers  shghtly 
and  a  double-ended  finger  will  appear  between  the 
other  two.  This  is  the  composite  of  the  extra  image 
seen  by  each  eye. 

Touch  perception  may  be  doubled  in  a  similar 
way.  Cross  the  second  finger  over  the  index  finger, 
and  then  feel  of  one  marble  held  in  another  person's 
hand.  A  sensation  is  felt  on  the  side  of  each  finger 
which  normally  would  necessitate  two  marbles,  and 
the  doubHng  sensation  is  very  vivid. 

The  estimation  of  distance  with  the  two  eyes 
is  very  much  more  exact  than  with  one.  To  avoid 
diplopia  we  converge  the  eyes  till  the  retinal  images 
fall  on  corresponding  points.  The  nearer  the  object 
the  greater  must  be  the  convergence. 

By  muscle  sense  we  associate  far  and  near  vdth 
relatively  slight  or  great  convergence. 

This  arrangement  is  quite  similar  to  a  problem 
in  surveying,  where  we  have  given  two  angles  and 
included  side  to  solve  the  triangle. 

Let  A  B  (Fig.  12),  the  pupilary  distance  =  the 
base  line.  Angles  A  and  B  =  amounts  the  muscles 
(M  M)  must  converge  the  eyes,  in  order  to  see  C 
as  a  single  object. 

If  the  object  has  three  dimensions,  each  eye  sees 
a  different  picture. 

Stereoscopic  pictures  are  right  and  left  like  the 


62       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

retinal  images,  and  when  artificially  combined  by 
the  proper  arrangement  of  lenses  and  prisms  repro- 
duce for  us  the  perception  of  distance  in  a  landscape 


Fig.  12.  —  The  Binocular  Estimation  of  Distance. 

with  great  vividness.  After  some  practise  one  can 
manipulate  his  eyes  so  as  to  combine  these  pictures 
without  a  stereoscope.  It  requires  </z5sociation  of 
accommodation  and  convergence,  and  as  the  normal 
relation  of  these  two  functions  is  association,  it  is 
much  better  to  use  the  stereoscope  than  to  cultivate 
this  habit. 

In  this  figure  (Fig.  13)  the  smaller  circles  are 
decentered  toward  each  other,  so  in  order  to  fuse 
these  two  into  one,  the  eyes  must  be  more  strongly 
converged  than  is  necessary  to  fuse  the  larger  circles. 
The  sensation  is  therefore  a  conic  section  with  the 
smaller  end  toward  the  observer. 


BINOCULAR    PERSPECTIVE  63 

Decenter  the  small  circles  the  other  way  (Fig,  14) 
and  we  reverse  the  position  of  the  cone. 

It  has  been  shown  by  Worth,'  of  London,  that 


Fig.  13.  —  Diagram  to  Demonstrate  Binocular  Per- 
spective; THE  Smaller  End  Should  Appear  to  Be 
toward  the  Observer. 

the  movements  of  the  two  eyes  are  largely  controlled 
by  a  fusion  sense,  and  that  a  faulty  development 
of  this  faculty  is  frequently  the  cause  of  cross  eyes. 
If  taken  early  many  of  these  cases  can  be  cured 
without  operation  by  developing  the  fusion  faculty. 
For  this  purpose  he  has  devised  an  instrument 
called  the  amblyoscope,  with  which  even  a  cross- 


FiG.  14.  —  Diagram  to  Demonstrate  Binocular  Per- 
spective; THE  Larger  End  Should  Appear  to  Be 
toward  the  Observer. 


eyed  person  can  fuse  simple  images.    This  he  carmot 
do  with  the  ordinary  stereoscope. 

This  instrument  does  not  allow  of  one's  watching 
the  eyes  while  they  are  being  exercised.     In  order 

'  Squint :  Its  Causes,  Pathology,  and  Treatment. 


64      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

to  observe  the  motions  of  the  eyes  and  make  it 
possible  to  measure  exactly  the  deviation  during 
binocular  vision,  the  author  has  devised  a  stereo- 
scopic attachment  to  a  well-known  instrument  called 
the  phoro-optometer.  With  this  instrument  the 
strength  of  the  prisms  may  be  varied  to  suit  the 
individual  case. 


Fig.  15. 


Author's    Stereoscopic    Attachment  to   the 
Phoro  -  optometer. 


In  order  to  ensure  the  use  of  both  eyes  for  one's 
reading,  writing,  etc.,  and  other  near  work,  the 
author  has  contrived  a  control  device  which  consists 
of  a  band  of  blackened  aluminum,  held  by  a  head- 
band midway  between  the  eyes  and  the  printed  page. 
The  fields  seen  by  the  two  eyes  overlap,  and  if 
binocular  vision  exists  one  experiences  no  difficulty 
in  reading  thru  the  obstruction,  but  if  either  eye  is 


LE   CONTE  65 

suppressed  the  band  obscures  some  of  the  letters 
in  each  line. 

Without  entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  peculiar 
mental  condition  which  causes  a  cross-eyed  person 
to  suppress  the  image  seen  by  the  squinting  eye, 
the  fact  is  here  mentioned  as  an  illustration  of  the 
intimate  relation  between  psychology  and  medicine. 

Le  Conte  says :  "  As  a  means  of  scientific  culture 
the  study  of  vision  seems  to  me  almost  exceptional. 
It  makes  use  of  and  thus  connects  the  sciences  of 
physics,  physiology,  and  even  psychology.  It  makes 
the  cultivation  of  the  habit  of  observation  and  ex- 
periment possible  to  all;  for  the  greatest  variety  of 
experiments  may  be  made  without  expensive  appara- 
tus, or  indeed  apparatus  of  any  kind.  And,  above 
all,  it  compels  one  to  analyze  the  complex  phenomena 
of  sense  in  his  own  person,  and  is  thus  a  truly 
admirable  preparation  for  the  more  difficult  task 
of  analysis  of  those  still  higher  and  more  complex 
phenomena  which  arc  embraced  in  the  science  of 
psychology."  * 

•  Sight,  p.  4. 


CHAPTER   V 

SUMMARY 

Hypnotism.  —  Historical.  —  Neuro  -  hypnotism.  —  Nerve  sleep, 
so  called  by  Braid,  1843.  —  Phenomena  are  as  old  as  civiliza- 
tion.—  Early  religions  show  many  instances.  —  Evident  in 
religious  fanaticism  of  to-day.  —  Mesmer.  —  •'  De  Planetarium 
Influxa,"  1776.  —  The  action  and  virtue  of  animal  magnetism. 

—  The  Paris  establishment  ;  mystery.  —  Investigation  by 
Academy  of  Sciences :  "  Not  worthy  of  further  scientific  in- 
vestigation."—  Second  investigation  of  mesmerism.  —  Eliot- 
son,  1837,  University  Hosp.,  London.  —  Resignation  and  pub- 
lication of  journal.  —  Esdaile,  1845,  I»dia.  —  Painless  surgery. 

—  Braid,  1843,  "  Neurypnology." — Rechristened  "Hypnotism." 

—  Result  of  subjective  causes.  —  Liebeault,  1864,  Nancy,  so- 
called  "  school." —  Charcot,  1878,  Salpetriere  school.  —  Soci- 
ety for  Psychic  Research,  1882,  International.  —  Bramwell, 
England,  best  living  exponent.  —  Quackenboss,  New  York, 
moral  reformation.  —  Morton  Prince,  Boston,  multiple  person- 
alities.—  Petersen,  Boston,  translator  of  Wetterstrand. — 
Sidis,  Brookline,  "  Psychology  of  Suggestion,"'  "  Psycho-patho- 
logical Researches,"  "Multiple  PersonaHty."  —  Methods  of 
hypnotizing.  —  Physical  means  not  essential  but  useful.  — 
Patient  should  be  told  what  to  expect.  —  Narcotics  and  anes- 
thetics. —  Susceptibility,  almost  universal.  —  Well-balanced 
individuals  best  subjects.  —  Hysterical  and  weak-willed  diffi- 
cult, —  Hypnotism  a  physiological  function. 


HYPNOTISM  —  HISTORICAL 

Hypnotism  is  a  contraction  of  the  term  neuro- 
hypnotism    (nerve    sleep),    coined    by    Dr.    James 
66 


HYPNOTISM  — HISTORICAL  67 

Braid,  of  Manchester,  Eng.,  1843,  to  cover  certain 
psychic  phenomena,  which  under  varied  forms  and 
names  are  as  old  as  civiUzation.  The  well-known 
power  of  the  snake  to  "  charm  "  the  bird  while  he 
approaches  his  prey,  would  suggest  that  it  even 
antedates  the  evolution  of  man. 

The  early  history  of  all  reUgions  is  to  such  an 
extent  a  record  of  trances,  ecstasies,  and  visions  of 
their  votaries  that  we  must  believe  that  these  now 
comparatively  unusual  manifestations  were,  in  the 
childhood  of  the  race,  of  rather  common  occurrence. 
The  priests  of  all  ancient  peoples  have  exercised 
these  arts,  and  no  doubt  owed  their  unUmited  power 
over  the  common  herd  to  their  knowledge  of  this 
mysterious  force.  This  was  not  limited  to  any  one 
nation,  as  it  was  practised  by  the  Chaldeans,  Babylo- 
nians, Persians,  and  Egyptians. 

Aristides,  a  Grecian  who  lived  about  120  A.  d., 
has  left  a  description  of  a  disordered  mental  state, 
which  possessed  him  for  thirteen  years,  which  was 
probably  a  form  of  auto-hypnosis.  The  lives  of 
Christian  saints  furnish   many  instances. 

Even  to-day  the  power  to  "  throw  a  fit  "  is  in 
some  communities  regarded  as  a  manifestation  of 
divine  approval.  Besides  the  religious  element 
there  was  in  all  this  a  therapeutic  power;  wonderful 
cures  were  effected  in  and  by  the  person  thus  tal- 
ented. 

The  first  important  effort  at  therapeutics  without 
theology  was  the  appearance  of  Mesmer.    He  was 


6S      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

a  German  physician,  and  in  1766  published  a  book 
entitled  "  De  Planetarium  Influxa,"  giving  an 
account  of  his  discoveries  in  animal  magnetism. 
This,  to  use  his  own  words,  is  "  a  fluid  universally 
diffused,  the  medium  of  mutual  influence  between 
the  heavenly  bodies.  There  are  observed,  partic- 
ularly in  the  human  body,  properties  similar  to 
those  of  a  magnet.  .  .  .  The  action  and  virtues  of 
animal  magnetism  may  be  communicated  from  one 
body  to  another.  Animal  magnetism  is  capable 
of  healing  diseases  of  the  nerves  immediately  and 
others  mediately.  It  perfects  the  action  of  medicines. 
In  animal  magnetism  nature  presents  a  universal 
method  of  heahng  and  preserving  mankind." ' 

Mesmer  was  at  this  time  thirty-three  years  old 
and  had  studied  medicine  under  the  best  men  at 
Vienna.  His  behef  in  astrology  was  not  then  incon- 
sistent with  a  man  of  parts.  He  treated  the  sick 
by  stroking  them  with  magnets,  evidently  supposing 
that  in  this  way  he  transferred  some  of  the  "  mag- 
netism "  of  the  heavenly  body  to  the  human  body. 

By  this  means  the  patient  became  cataleptic  or 
hysterical,  or  fainted,  probably  depending  on  his 
idiosyncrasy.  Whichever  state  was  manifested, 
curative  results  followed.  In  1776  he  met  in  Switzer- 
land a  priest  named  Gassner,  who  effected  cures  by 
manipulations  (laying  on  of  hands)  without  the  use 
of  magnets.  So  Uke  a  true  scientist,  Mesmer  dis- 
carded  the  magnets. 

'  Encyclopedia  Britannica.    J.  G.  M. 


HYPNOTISM  -  HISTORICAL  69 

Two  years  later  he  opened  an  establishment  in 
Paris  for  treating  patients,  and  achieved  such  great 
success  as  to  arouse  the  envy  of  the  medical  frater- 
nity. They  regarded  him  as  a  charlatan,  and  his 
method  of  conducting  his  stances  would  seem  to  us 
to-day  to  justify  the  charge. 

"  Appreciating  the  effects  of  mysterious  surround- 
ing on  the  imagination  of  his  patient,  he  had  his 
consulting- rooms  dimly  lighted  and  hung  with 
mirrors;  strains  of  soft  music  occasionally  broke 
the  profound  silence;  odors  were  wafted  through 
the  room ;  and  the  patients  sat  around  a  kind  of  vat 
in  which  various  chemical  ingredients  were  con- 
cocted or  simmered  over  a  fire.  Holding  each  other's 
hands  or  joined  by  cords,  the  patients  sat  in  ex- 
pectancy, and  then  Mesmer,  clothed  as  a  magician, 
ghded  amongst  them,  affecting  this  one  by  a  touch, 
another  by  a  look,  and  making  passes  with  his  hands 
toward  a  third.  The  effects  were  various,  but  all 
were  held  to  be  salutary."^ 

Notwithstanding  all  this  "  machinery,"  we  may, 
I  think,  believe  in  his  honesty  of  purpose,  for,  at 
his  own  request,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  appointed 
a  committee  to  investigate  his  claims.  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  a  member  of  this  committee,  which 
reported  that  the  cures  were  genuine,  but  that  the 
effects  were  due  to  the  imagination  of  the  patient, 
and  that  the  subject  was  not  worthy  of  further 
scientific  investigation. 

'  Encyclopedia  Britannica.     J.  G.  M. 


70      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

We  are  amused  to-day  at  the  dictum  of  these  men 
that  a  system  of  therapeutics  which  they  admitted 
made  genuine  cures  was  not  worthy  of  further 
scientific  investigation. 

Let  us  take  heed  that  we  fall  not  into  a  similar 
blunder  concerning  some  of  "  irregular "  mental 
cures  of  our  own  times.  The  physician  has  no  right 
to  neglect  any  ism  or  pathy  that  he  admits  is 
curative. 

Whether  from  this  adverse  report  or  from  increas- 
ing extravagance  of  mysticism,  mesmerism,  as  it 
was  then  called,  fell  into  disrepute,  and  Mesmer 
went  to  Switzerland,  where  he  died  1815.  One  of 
his  disciples  who  remained  in  Paris  attempted  to 
divest  it  of  the  marvelous,  but  met  with  httle  prac- 
tical success,  and  it  was  not  until  ten  years  after 
Mesmer's  death  that  it  came  again  into  prominence, 
and  another  investigation  followed  by  the  Academy 
of  Sciences. 

After  six  years'  labor,  the  committee  reported  con- 
firming the  therapeutic  value,  but  a  majority  of  the 
Academicians  wanted  an  adverse  report,  and  another 
committee  was  appointed  properly  "  instructed." 
Two  subjects  were  examined  and  no  results  obtained. 

This  negative  result  satisfied  the  majority  of  the 
scientific  men  that  the  positive  results  of  the  earlier 
committee  were  untrue,  and  it  became  more  unpopu- 
lar than  ever  to  be  known  as  interested  in  this  sub- 
ject. The  very  name  mesmerism  was  an  offence  to 
medicine. 


HYPNO  TISM  —  HISTORICAL  7 1 

But  the  influence  of  Mesmer  was  far-reaching. 
In  1837  in  England  appeared  a  doughty  champion 
in  the  person  of  Dr.  John  Eliotson,  professor  of  prac- 
tise^of  medicine/ University  College,  London. ~  His 
demonstrations  in  the  hospital  wards  became  very 
popular  with  the  students,  but  the  dean  advised  him 
to  desist.  This  he  refused  to  do,  and  a  year  later  the 
council  of  the  university  passed  a  resolution  forbid- 
ding the  "  jgractise  of  mesmerism  or  animal  magnet- 
ism/' This  naturally  caused  his  resignation.  But 
Eliotson's  influence  was  made  greater  than  ever  by 
the  pubhcation  of  a  journal  "  for  the  collection  and 
diffusion  of  information  connected  with  cerebral 
physiology  and  mesmerism."  This  appeared  as  a 
quarterly  for  twelve  years.  The  contributions  were 
from  Eliotson  and  others,  and  reports  of  their  work 
were  thus  put  on  record. 

.^csthcsia  was  the  one  phase  now  emphasized, 
and  thus  surgery,  even  capital  operations,  wa5_r_en- 
dered  painless.  This  was  before  the  discovery  of 
chloroform  and  ether,  and  when  we  remember  the 
description  of  surgical  operations  without  anesthetics, 
it  would  seem  as  if  the  demonstrated  possibDities  of 
mesmerism  would  have  been  hailed  with  delight  by 
the  profession.  Bitter  editorials  appeared  in  the 
Lancet,  claiming  that  the  subjects  who  said  they 
felt  no  pain  were  impostors  or  persons  naturally  in- 
sensible to  pain.  Eliotson  was  a  man  of  advanced 
ideas  in  many  other  directions,  especially  in  the  use 
of  the  stethoscope  and  posology. 


^/ 


72      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

Dr.  James  Esdaile,  an  English  surgeon  in  the  In- 
diaiTservTce^Raving  read  Eliotson's  journal,  in  1845 
mesmerized  a  patient  before  operating  for  hydrocele, 
and  as  the  operation  was  entirely  painless  he  adopted 
it  as  a  routine  measure,  doing  over  one  hundred  pain- 
less operations  during  the  year,^ 

A  committee  of  investigation,  appointed  by  the 
governor,  made  such  a  favorable  report  that  Esdaile 
was  put  in  charge  of  a  small  hospital  in  Calcutta  for 
further  experiment  and  demonstration.  Here  his 
work  was  equally  successful,  but  the  medical  pro- 
fession of  India  denounced  him  as  "  an  honest  fool 
deluded  by  his  patients,"  and  the  medical  journals 
■^'^  refused   to  publish  any  account  of  his  wonderful 

record. 

About  this  same  time,  1843,  i^  England,  James 
Braid,  of  Manchester,  published  "  Ncuiypnology," 
in  which  he  announced  the  subjective  nature  of  the 
phenomena,  introducing  the  term  hypnotism,.  Prob- 
ably nothing  but  the  new  name  gained  him  a  hearing. 
The  scientific  method  was  coming  into  vogue,  and 
Braid  applied  it  here.  He  discovered  that  the  state 
could  be  induced  by  fixed  gaze,  and  contended  that' 
animal  magnetism  had  nothing  to  do  with  it:    '^ 

He  beheved  it  the  result  of  physical  causes.  His 
belief  in  phrenology  led  him  to  think  that  pressure 
on  certain  portions  of  the  skull  would  produce  special 
phenomena.  His  advocacy  of  the  physical  cause  re- 
instated the  subject  as  "  worthy  of  further  scientific 
investigation." 


HYPNOTISM  — HISTORICAL  73 

The  ultramaterialists  of  the  day  felt  that  since  it 
had  a  material  cause,  there  was  nothing  degrading 
to  their  intellects  in  giving  it  some  consideration. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  at  the  time,  the 
tremendous  power  of  suggestion  had  not  been  recog- 
nized. Later  in  life  Braid  modified  this  idea  of  a 
physical  cause,  announcing  very  clearly  his  beHef 
in  mental  concentration  or  monoideism  as  the  all- 
important  factor,  altho  he  still  held  that  the  monoide- 
ism "  depended  on  a  definite  physical  change  in  the 
subject." 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Braid  escaped 
professional  persecution  and  ostracism.  He  said  ; 
"  Like  the  originators  of  all  new  views,  however, 
hypnotism  has  subjected  me  to  much  contention; 
for  the  skeptics,  from  not  perceiving  the  difference 
between  my  method  and  that  of  the  mesmerists,  and 
the  Hmited  extent  of  my  own  pretensions,  were  equally 
hostile  to  hypnotism  as  they  had  been  to  mesmerism ; 
and  the  mesmerists,  thinking  their  craft  was  in  dan- 
ger, —  that  their  mystic  idol  was  threatened  to  be 
shorn  of  some  of  its  glory  by  the  advent  of  a  new  rival, 
—  buckled  on  their  armor,  and  soon  proved  that  the 
odium  mesmericum  was  as  inveterate  as  the  odium 
iheologicum.'' ' 

Braid  wrote  extensively  and  practised  special 
surgery.  Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  his  work  may  be 
gainedjrom  the  statement  that  two  years  before  his 
"  Neurypnology "    appeared    he   had    operated    on 

'  Bramwell :  Hypnotism. 


74       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

262  cases  of  clubfoot,  and  seven  hundred  cases  of 
_strabismus.  ""     "^ 

After  Braid's  death  little  attention  was  paid  to  the 
subject  for  twenty  years,  but  this  period  saw  the  rise 
of  the  Nancy  school,  which  has  been  the  inspiration 
of  most  of  the  later  interest  in  the  subject. 

"  Good  Father  Li^beault,"  as  he  was  fondly  called 
byhis  patients,  settled  in  Nancy  in  1864,  and  soon 
built  uj)  a  large  free  cUnic,  giving  up  all  remunerative 
practise.  He  had  been  interested  in  mesmerism  for 
three  or  four  years.  Without  _kno:adng  oL  Braid's 
work  he  independently  discovered  the  subjective 
nature  of  hypnotism.  He  discarded  all  medicines 
and  workeH  along  quietly^ dealing  out  therapeutic 
suggestion  with  a  liberal  hand/ 

TnT882jie  cured  a  case  of  sriatir.?j  whirh_Bemheim 
had  treated  in  vain  with  drugs  for  six  months.^his 
converted  Bemheim,  who  became  a  zealous  pupil, 
and  a  few  years  later  ptibhshed  "  SuggestlyeThera- 
peuticil!^ 

Altho  the  Nancy  hypnotists  disclaim  the  term 
"  school,"  as  their  individual  opinions  are  quite  at 
variance,  yet  there  is  among  them  a  consensus  of 
opinion  which  is  opposed  to  the  claims  of  the  Sal- 
p^tribre  school,  which  was  so  called  from  certain 
dogmatic  statements  of  Charcot,  which  will  be  con- 
sidered later  when  dealing  with  "  Theories." 

Altho  Braid  was  translated  into  German  in  1881 
by  Preyer,  yet  ia  England  little  was  heard  qj  thc^sub- 
ject.  till  the  formation  in   1882  of  the  Society  for 


H  YPNO  TISM  —  HISTORICAL  7  5 

Psychic  Research.  This  society  numbers  among  its 
members  many  of  the  most  eminent  scientific  men, 
both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  The  reports 
of  hypnotic  investigations  have  appeared  from  time 
to  time  in  its  "  Proceedings."  Among  these  none 
has  been  as  clear-cut  and  convincing  as  the  con- 
tributions of  Bramwell,  who  has  given  us  the  re- 
suhs  of  his  labors  in  his  recent  treatise,  to  which  I 
am  indebted  for  many  of  the  facts  of  this  brief  his- 
tory. 

Besides  the  public^__exhibitions,  little  has  been 
done  in  this  country  in  the  legitimate  practise  of 
hypnotism.  Doctor  Quackenboss,  of  New  York, 
has  written,  lectured,  and  practised. 

His  practise  has  been  largely  in  the  line  of  moral 
reform,  and  he  is  accompHshing  a  noble  work.  He 
will  be  referred  to  again  under  "  Methods  of  Induc- 
tion." 

In  our  own  city  (Boston)  some  of  the  names  one 
frequently  hears  mentioned  as  interested  in  this 
subject  are  Dr.  Morton  Prince,  professor  of  dis- 
eases of  the  nervous  system.  Tufts  College  Medi- 
cal School;  Dr.  Boris  Sidis,  formerly  director  of 
the  New  York  Pathological  Institute;  Dr.  Henrik 
G.  Petersen,  the  translator  of  Wetterstrand ;  Prof. 
Hugo  Munsterberg,  of  Harvard  University,  and 
Dr.  James  J.  Putnam,  of  Harvard  Medical  School. 

Doctor  Prince  has  written  quite  extensively  for  the 
Psychic  Research  Society  and  medical  journals.  His 
"Dissociation  of  a  Personahty"  is  a  most  exhaustive 


76      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

Study  of  what  he  beheves  are  several  different  person- 
alities occupying  one  body. 

Doctor  Sidis'  most  important  contributions  to 
the  subject  are  the  following  books:  "  Psychology 
of  Suggestion,"  "  Psycho-pathology,"  "  Multiple 
Personality." 

METHODS 

The  methods  of  inducing  hypnosis  have  been  as 
varied  as  the  theories  concerning  it. 

It  has  gradually  developed  that  magnets,  relics, 
and  paraphemaha  are  superfluous.  Even  fixed 
gaze  is  not  essential,  as  Braid  discovered  by  success- 
fully hypnotizing  a  bhnd  patient.  Physical  methods 
are  entirely  unnecessary,  and  possess  no  virtue  in 
themselves,  but  are  a  powerful  means  of  making  in- 
J  (direct  suggestions.  The  patient  comes  to  the  hypno- 
^(iizer  with  an  unknown  quantity  of  preconceived 
ideas,  among  which  are  sure  to  be  the  efficacy  of 
passes  and  fixed  gaze,  so  that  all  operators  have 
found  it  expedient  to  use  physical  methods  in  con- 
junction with  verbal  suggestions.  It  is  always  ad- 
visable to  begin  with  some  explanation  of  what  is 
expected.  The  patient  should  be  assured  that  the 
sensation  vdll  be  agreeable  and  that  success  will  be 
in  proportion  to  his  ability  to  cooperate. 

The  eyes  may  be  closed  and  the  idea  of  sleep  sug- 
gested. This  idea  is  more  readily  accepted  if  the 
patient  be  put  in  a  comfortable  position  with  the 
head  resting.  The  patient  should  be  told  to  think 
only  of  sleep,  and  this  idea  should  be  repeated  suf- 


HYPNO  TISM  —  METHODS  7  7 

ficiently  often  to  secure  his  attention.  He  should  be 
told  to  breathe  regularly  and  deeply,  and  that  his  lids 
are  getting  heavy  and  that  he  is  drowsy.  Gradually 
the  strength  of  the  suggestion  should  be  increased 
till  the  lids  cannot  be  opened. 

The  patient  is  still  conscious  of  all  that  is  transpir- 
ing, but  his  lids  are  firmly  closed.  Catalepsy  in  the 
most  awkward  positions  is  now  easily  secured,  by 
stroking  the  part  and  suggesting  increasing  stiffness. 
Anesthesia  is  also  easily  produced.  In  fact,  all  that 
follows  is  as  the  operator  directs,  provided  that  the 
subject  be  sufficiently  suggestible. 

The  superficial  stages  are  easily  obtained  with  the 
majority  of  people,  but  trance  and  somnambulism 
are  obtainable  only  vdth  a  few. 

Before  hypnotizing  it  is  well  to  suggest  that  it  vdll 
be  a  pleasant  experience,  and  as  soon  as  one  gets 
control  of  the  eyes,  to  say  with  decision :  "  No  one 
shall  ever  be  able  to  hypnotize  you  against  your 
wishes,  or  except  for  your  good,  or  no  one  but  your 
physician,"  and  before  waking,  suggest  that  an  agree- 
able feeling  will  be  experienced  hke  waking  from  a 
refreshing  sleep. 

Fixed  gaze  on  some  bright  object  like  a  coin  held 
above  the  eyes  is  also  a  very  common  method.  This 
serves  to  fatigue  the  muscles  that  raise  the  eyes  and 
hastens  the  result.  The  subject  should  not  be  awak- 
ened suddenly,  but  told  that  he  will  awake  after  you 
have  counted  ten.  This  is  more  like  the  normal 
waking  from  sleep.     The  operator  should  conduct 


78      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

himself  in  a  perfectly  natural,  matter-of-fact  manner. 
While  an  ignorant  subject  may  be  sometimes  over- 
awed by  Svengah  attitudes,  your  inteUigent  patient 
will  be  disgusted,  and  you  will  forfeit  his  respect  and 
confidence.  PubKc  hypnotists  often  assume  these 
airs  of  his  Satanic  majesty.  Perhaps  this  is  not  so 
much  to  impress  the  patient  as  a  play  to  the  gallery. 
One  should  not  feel  nor  exhibit  any  discourage- 
ment if  the  first  attempt  be  unsuccessful.  Infinite 
patience  may  be  required,  as  success  may  crown  one's 
efforts  after  fifty  failures.  In  obstinate  cases  it  may 
be  necessary  to  resort  to  mild  anesthesia.  Some 
operators  administer  a  hypnotic  drug  to  induce 
drowsiness.  Doctor  Quackenboss  informs  me  that 
he  invariably  commences  with  a  dose  of  paraldehyde. 
There  is  no  way  of  determining  susceptibihty  except 
the  initial  effort. 

SUSCEPTIBILITY 

The  late  Doctor  Charcot  claimed  that  hypnosis 
is  a  morbid  condition,  which  can  be  induced  only  in 
the  hysterical.  The  insufhciency  of  the  data  upon 
which  this  statement  rests  must  be  apparent  from 
the  admission  that "  only  a  dozen  cases  of  true  hypno- 
sis have  occurred  in  Salpetriere  in  ten  years,  and  that 
a  very  large  proportion  of  the  experiments  were  con- 
ducted on  one  subject,  who  had  long  been  an  inmate 
of  that  hospital." 

The  fact  is  just  the  reverse:  hysterical  subjects 
are  very  difficult  to  hypnotize.    Hypnosis  is  a  physio- 


HYPNOTISM  — SUSCEPTIBILITY  79 

logical  function.  "  Some  years  ago  Bernheim  had 
already  attempted  to  hypnotize  ten  thousand  hospi- 
tal patients  with  over  ninety  per  cent,  of  successes, 
while  Wetterstrand  recently  reported  6,500  cases 
with  105  failures.  International  statistics  published 
in  1892  gave  8,500  cases,  from  fifteen  observers  in  dif- 
ferent countries,  with  six  per  cent,  oj  failures. 

"  Mr.  Wingfield,  demonstrator  of  physiology  at 
Cambridge,  Eng,,  attempted  to  hypnotize  170  indi- 
viduals, all  but  eighteen  being  undergraduates.  In 
eighty  per  cent,  hypnosis  was  induced  at  the  first 
attempt,  but  as  no  second  trial  was  made  with  the 
unsuccessful  cases,  these  results  undoubtedly  under- 
state the  susceptibihty.  Lidbeault  found  soldiers 
and  sailors  particularly  easy  to  influence. 

"  Grossman,  of  BerUn,  recently  asserted  that  the 
hard-headed  North  Germans  were  almost  univer- 
sally susceptible.  Bramwell,  of  England,  observed 
that  healthy  Yorkshire  farm  laborers  made  remark- 
ably good  subjects. 

"  Professor  Forel  hypnotized  nearly  all  his  asylum 
warders.  He  states  that  he  himself  selected  these 
men  for  this  important  position,  and  that  he  did  not 
choose  them  from  the  ranks  of  the  hysterical.  Forel 
claims  that  every  mentally  healthy  man  is  naturally 
hypnotizable." ' 

Moll  says :  "If  we  take  a  pathological  condition 
of  the  organism  as  necessary  to  hypnosis,  we  shall  be 
obliged  to  conclude  that  nearly  everybody  is  not 

'  Bramwell :  Hypnotism. 


8o      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

quite  right  in  his  head.  The  mentally  unsound, 
particularly  idiots,  are  much  more  difficult  to  hypno- 
tize than  the  healthy.  InteUigent  people  and  those 
with  strong  wills  are  more  easily  hypnotizable  than 
the  dull,  the  stupid,  or  the  weak-willed."  ' 

'  Bramwell :  Hypnotism. 


CHAPTER   VI 


SUMMARY 


Hypnosis.  —  Phenomena.  —  Classification,  difficult  and  somewhat 
arbitrary.  —  Mild,  catalepsy,  conclusive  evidence  of  hypnosis. 
—  Deep,  somnambulism,  hallucinations  accepted.  —  Catalepsy 
unwise  to  exceed  at  first  attempt ;  sufficient  for  slight  analge- 
sia ;  sufficient  for  therapeutic  suggestions.  —  Anesthesia  not 
practicable  for  general  surgery,  because  not  absolute  in  more 
than  ten  per  cent.  —  Character  and  frequency  of  pulse  may 
be  controlled.  —  Suggestibility  increased,  raise  of  threshold.  — 
Amnesia  the  rule,  but  subject  to  suggestion.  —  The  alert 
stage,  seemingly  inconsistent  with  sleep.  —  Hallucinations  : 
positive,  negative  ;  en  rapport  with  operator,  but  others  may 
be  introduced.  —  Subject  reasons  deductively,  but  not  induct- 
ively. —  Post-hypnotic  suggestions  ;  appreciation  of  time.  — 
Automatism,  not  absolute,  subject  may  refuse  harmless  sug- 
gestion.—  Criminal  suggestions,  popular  literature  responsible 
for  belief  in ;  mistaken  deductions  from  paper  dagger  experi- 
ment. —  Refinement  of  moral  sense.  —  The  higher  self  :  avoid 
being  deceived.  —  Precautions  in  conducting  experiments  : 
avoid  self-deception. 

The  hypnotic  state  varies  in  intensity  in  different 
individuals,  or  in  the  same  individual  at  different 
times,  from  a  slight  drowsiness  to  almost  complete 
coma.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  classify 
these  stages  by  the  phenomena  exhibited,  but  it 
should  be  understood  that  these  are  but  arbitrary 
divisions. 

Drowsiness,  being  almost  wholly  a  subjective  symp- 

8i 


82      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

torn,  can  hardly  be  considered  hypnosis.  Until  cata- 
lepsy is  produced  the  patient  is  not  hypnotized. 
Inability  to  open  the  eyes  is  a  catalepsy  of  the  orbic- 
ularis muscle.  After  this,  rigidity  of  legs  or  arms 
in  awkward  positions  follows  the  suggestion  of  the 
operator.  The  patient  may  be  perfectly  conscious, 
indeed  may  really  be  amused  at  his  helplessness. 
While  many  other  phases  may  now  appear,  yet  for 
purposes  of  definition,  the  cataleptic  stage  signifies  a 
certain  well-recognized  condition. 

With  certain  restrictions,  which  will  be  fully  consid- 
ered later  when  speaking  of  automatism,  the  suc- 
ceeding manifestations  appear  as  suggested.  Som- 
nambulism has  come  by  general  consent  to  mean  a 
state  in  which  hallucinations  are  accepted,  of  which 
the  patient  has  no  recollection  on  waking.  When 
this  stage  is  reached  analgesia  and  anesthesia  are 
easily  effected,  and  the  patient  is  sure  to  be  en  rap- 
port with  the  operator.  He  is  oblivious  to  all  other 
persons  until  they  are  introduced  to  him. 

It  is  therefore  well  to  keep  clearly  in  mind  these 
two  stages,  catalepsy  and  somnambulism,  as  distin- 
guishing mild  and  deep  hypnosis. 

It  is  usually  unwise  to  carry  the  patient  deeper 
than  catalepsy  at  the  first  sitting,  as  there  is  some- 
thing uncanny  in  feehng  one's  self  in  the  power  of 
another.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  unless  the  person  has 
considerable  knowledge  of  the  subject,  most  opera- 
tors simply  talk  to  him  for  the  first  visit,  explaining 
what  is  to  be  expected.    He  may  be  asked  to  close  his 


HYPNOTISM  —  PHENOMENA  83 

eyes  and  put  himself  in  a  passive  state.  He  should  be 
assured  that  suggestibiUty  is  well-nigh  universal  in 
healthy  individuals,  but  that  his  cooperation  is  abso- 
lutely essential. 

As  soon  as  catalepsy  has  been  secured  one  should 
say  with  some  emphasis :  "  No  one  shall  ever  be  able 
to  hypnotize  you  against  your  will,  or  except  for  your 
good,  or  no  one  but  your  physician."  This  suggestion 
is  very  reassuring.  This  cataleptic  stage  is  sufficient 
for  giving  many  therapeutic  suggestions,  indeed 
when  we  treat  of  this,  we  shall  see  that  a-hypnotic  ^ 
suggestions  are  made  by  many  therapeutists,  many 
claiming  that  the  passive  state  is  all  that  is  required. 
It  is  surprising  how  easily  analgesia  to  a  pin-prick 
may  be  secured.  Anesthesia  or  complete  insensi- 
bihty  to  contact  is  not  secured  short  of  sonmambu- 
lism. 

One  would  hardly  hke  to  depend  on  the  analgesia 
for  surgical  purposes  short  of  the  somnambulic 
stage. 

In  treating  a  stricture  of  the  tear  duct  in  a  child 
of  twelve  years,  the  probing  was  so  painful  that  very 
little  progress  was  made  in  several  visits.  Catalepsy 
with  analgesia  to  the  prick  of  a  needle  was  easily 
secured.  The  w^riter  then  suggested  that  the  probing 
would  not  be  painful,  at  the  same  time  massaging 
over  the  region  of  the  duct.  The  child  was  perfectly 
conscious,  and  in  response  to  the  question  said  it 
did  not  hurt  when  the  probe  was  forced  thru  a  tough 
stricture,  opening  the  duct  to  the  nose.    Nevertheless 


84      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

altho  she  maintained  it  did  not  hurt,  there  was  evi- 
dent considerable  muscular  reaction. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Esdaile's  use  of 
hypnotism  was  almost  entirely  as  an  analgesic  in 
surgery.  He  devoted  half  an  hour  to  the  hypnosis 
as  a  routine  measure,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  somnambulism  was  secured. 

Bramwell  hypnotizes  on  several  successive  days 
before  attempting  any  very  painful  operations.  He 
has  secured  complete  anesthesia  in  only  about  ten 
per  cent.  This  uncertainty  evidently  lessens  its 
\^y  value  as  a  general  anesthetic,  but  where  it  is  effective 
it  is  devoid  of  danger,  which  cannot  be  said  of 
chloroform  and  ether.  Not  only  does  the  patient 
suffer  no  pain,  but  the  reflexes  are  abolished.  This 
is  certainly  objective  proof  of  anesthesia. 

Analgesia  in  surgery  has  been  demonstrated  over 
and  over  again  before  representative  medical  soci- 
eties. At  the  Boston  Homeopathic  Medical  Society 
a  few  years  ago  Prof.  George  H.  Earl  reported  a 
dispensary  confinement  case,  where  it  became 
necessary  to  use  forceps  with  no  ether  at  hand. 
The  patient  was  hypnotized  and  the  delivery  was 
practically  painless.  This  naturally  leads  us  to 
inquire  why  normal  childbirth  cannot  thus  be  made 
painless,  and  Bramwell  quotes  numerous  instances 
of  its  successful  employment. 
^'  I  have  seen  no  reference  to  its  use  preliminary 
'  to  giving  an  anesthetic.  It  would  seem  that  it  might 
here  be  of  greatest  value,  in  reassuring  the  patient 


H  YPN  OS  IS  -  PHENOMENA  8  5 

and  controlling  the  after  vomiting.  The  value  of 
hypnotism  in  medicine  will  be  considered  under 
"  Suggestive  Therapeutics." 

The  hypnotic  control  of  the  pulse  has  been  fre- 
quently secured  by  the  author.  As  an  example  a 
recent  experience  may  be  mentioned.  When  the 
subject,  a  medical  student,  had  reached  the  somnam- 
bulic stage  another  physician  was  asked  to  take  his 
pulse,  but  not  to  mention  the  result.  It  was  then 
suggested  that  in  ten  minutes  the  rate  would  be  in- 
creased ten  beats  per  minute.  The  patient  was  left 
quietly  reclining  in  an  easy  chair,  no  suggestions  of 
an  exciting  or  emotional  nature  being  made.  A 
second  count  showed  the  exact  increase  suggested. 
It  was  then  suggested  that  in  ten  minutes  the  rate 
would  be  ten  beats  less  than  at  first.  The  same 
physician  announced  the  result  as  seven  less. 

Doctor  Sidis  and  others  have  shown  by  sphygmo- 
graphic  tracings  a  marked  change  in  the  character 
of  the  curve  under  hypnosis.  More  interesting 
perhaps  are  the  results  of  pneumographic  tracings. 
The  increased  sensitivity  of  the  hypnotic  state  is 
graphically  shown  by  the  great  variations  from  the 
normal  tracing  caused  by  stimuli  of  various  kinds. 
Thus  laboratory  results  confirm  the  observations 
that  suggestibility  is  greatly  increased.  The  thera- 
peutic bearing  of  this  fact  will  be  discussed  under 
"  Suggestive  Therapeutics." 

The  transition  to  the  alert  stage  seems  somewhat 
contradictory.    This  has  always  impressed  the  au- 


86      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

thor  when  telling  a  subject  who  has  been  put  into 
a  sound  sleep  that  he  can  open  his  eyes  and  still 
remain  asleep. 

That  something  of  the  kind  occurs  to  the  subject 
is  often  evident  from  the  slight  hesitation  which  he 
shows.  I  have  frequently  said  to  a  patient,  "  Your 
sleep  is  not  quite  like  ordinary  sleep  because  you 
can  open  your  eyes.  You  can  hear  me  speak  to 
you,  can  you  not  ? "  His  reply  will  often  show 
considerable  effort  and  the  word  "  yes  "  may  be 
whispered.  This  has  been  observed  so  often  that 
one  should  be  suspicious  that  he  is  being  deceived 
if  the  subject  should  respond  in  a  loud  voice  at 
first. 

Hallucinations  will  now  be  accepted.  These  may 
be  either  positive  or  negative.  That  is,  the  subject 
may  be  told  that  he  is  looking  at  a  beautiful  land- 
scape ;  this  would  be  a  positive  hallucination.  Or  he 
may  be  told  that  the  chair  which  stood  in  front  of 
him  has  vanished,  that  there  is  no  one  present  in  the 
room;   these  are  negative  hallucinations. 

This  brings  us  to  the  subject  of  rapport.  Before 
any  suggestion  of  the  kind  is  made  the  patient 
appears  perfectly  oblivious  to  the  presence  of  all 
save  the  operator,  and  appears  not  to  hear  when 
the  operator  speaks  to  others  than  himself. 

This  rapport  seems  to  be  a  phenomenon  of  hyp- 
nosis entirely  independent  of  the  suggestion.  The 
operator  can,  however,  introduce  an  observer  either 
under  his  true  name  or  fictitiously. 


HYPNOSIS  -  PHENOMENA  8/ 

The  deductive  nature  of  the  hypnotic  state  is 
universally  recognized.  For  example,  the  subject 
is  told  that  he  is  John  L.  SulUvan,  and  he  imme- 
diately assumes  his  idea  of  the  pugilist. 

On  one  occasion  in  a  public  hall  the  writer  saw  a 
washerwoman  taken  on  the  stage  and  told  that  she 
was  Susan  B.  Anthony,  and  informed  that  she  was 
to  address  the  audience  on  "  Women's  Suffrage." 
In  the  normal  state  probably  no  amount  of  per- 
suasion would  have  induced  the  woman  to  say  a 
word  in  pubhc,  and  yet  she  bowed  to  the  audience 
and  made  a  very  good  speech.  She  believed  herself 
to  be  the  person  named,  and  given  this  premise, 
deduced  a  logical  sequence. 

Suggestions  should  be  made  direct,  emphatic, 
and  oft  repeated.  Sidis  has  shown  this  to  be  in  strong 
contrast  to  the  normal  state,  in  which  suggestions 
are  effective  in  proportion  to  their  indirectness. . 
For  example,  if  you  want  your  friend  to  whistle  a 
tune,  he  would  probably  refuse  your  command,  but 
if  he  be  somewhat  preoccupied,  you  pretend  your- 
self the  same,  but  carelessly  whistle  the  tune,  and 
the  chances  are  that  your  friend  will  change  his 
tune  and  whistle  yours. 

In  like  maimer  the  mental  processes  differ.  The 
conscious  self  reasons  inductively.  He  builds  up  a 
conclusion  by  putting  together  separated  and  un- 
related experiences.  For  example,  Newton  watching 
the  apple  fall  conceives  that  there  is  a  mutual  attrac- 
tion between  the  earth  and  the  apple,  then  between 


88      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

the  earth  and  the  sun,  and  concludes  with  a  theory 
of  universal  gravitation. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  threshold  of  sensation  is 
raised  by  hypnosis,  that  sight  and  hearing  are  more 
acute.    This  has  not  been  personally  demonstrated. 

Post-hypnotic  amnesia  usually  occurs  without  sug- 
gestion, but  it  can  be  either  increased  or  dimin- 
ished, by  telhng  the  patient  that  he  will  either 
remember  or  forget  the  events  that  transpire  during 
his  sleep. 

Post-hypnotic  suggestion  is  a  very  striking  phenom- 
enon. You  suggest  complete  amnesia  on  waking. 
Then  tell  the  patient  that  when  you  take  out  your 
pocket-handkerchief  he  will  immediately  get  up 
and  leave  the  room.  When  he  wakes  it  is  well  to 
have  one  of  the  observers  determine  that  amnesia 
is  complete. 

No  matter  what  the  subject  may  be  doing,  when 
you  inadvertently  give  the  signal  he  responds  like 
a  machine,  and  is  entirely  ignorant  of  the  cause  of 
his  action.  On  a  subsequent  hypnosis,  however, 
he  would  be  able  to  tell  you  all  about  it. 

This  is  the  most  effective  way  of  reviving  sub- 
conscious memories.  Long  forgotten  happenings 
of  childhood  can  be  brought  out.  This  has  been 
utiUzed  in  discovering  the  causes  of  hallucinations 
and  psychoses.  So  many  experiments  in  the  post- 
hypnotic appreciation  0}  time  have  been  made  by 
many  different  observers,  that  we  are  forced  to  con- 
clude that  the  power  greatly  transcends  that  of  the 


POST -HYPNOTIC   PHENOMENA  89 

normal  waking  consciousness.  A  very  simple  way 
to  test  this  is  to  suggest  that  the  post-hypnotic 
suggestion  shall  be  carried  out  at  a  certain  time, 
instead  of  at  some  stated  signal.  My  own  experi- 
ments in  this  line  have  not  been  very  extensive, 
but  sufficient  to  convince  me  of  the  truth  of  the 
claim. 

In  one  instance  it  was  suggested  that  half  an  hour 
after  w^aking,  the  subject,  who  was  one  of  a  company 
of  professional  friends,  should  become  aware  that 
his  right  shoe  was  hurting  him;  that  it  would  feel 
like  a  stone  or  nail  in  his  shoe,  and  that  the  discom- 
fort would  become  so  great  that  he  would  be  com- 
pelled to  take  off  his  shoe  and  rub  his  foot. 

After  he  waked,  he  remained  seated  with  his  back 
to  the  clock,  and  the  half-dozen  people  present  were 
listening  to  something  which  I  was  reading  aloud. 
In  exactly  twenty-seven  minutes,  he  was  seen  to 
look  at  his  foot  and  move  it  uneasily  in  the  shoe. 
The  right  leg  was  then  raised  and  thro\Mi  across  the 
other  and  the  shoe  moved  with  the  hand.  In  about 
a  minute  he  interrupted  my  reading  by  remarking 
aloud,  "  I  never  knew  that  shoe  to  hurt  me  before." 
Paying  no  attention  to  the  remark,  I  continued 
reading,  when  he  interrupted  again  by  saying,  "  I 
wonder  what  it  is."  With  some  impatience  I  said, 
"  I  wish  you  would  not  interrupt  me."  "  I  haven't 
heard  a  word  you  have  read,"  was  the  reply. 

Some  one  suggested,  "  Perhaps  you  have  a  nail  in 
your  shoe."    "  I  don't  wear  nailed  shoes,"  was  the 


90       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

impatient  reply.  At  this  there  was  such  a  general 
laugh  that  he  said :  "  Ah,  I  know,  it  is  a  suggestion, 
you  want  me  to  take  my  shoe  off.  Well,  I  won't 
do  it." 

He  lighted  a  fresh  cigar  and  smoked  very  vigor- 
ously for  a  few  minutes,  but  while  the  company 
roared  with  laughter  he  took  off  his  shoe  and  rubbed 
his  foot.  On  being  questioned  afterward  he  said 
that  he  could  have  resisted,  but  he  reahzed  that  he 
should  be  uncomfortable  till  he  did  it,  and  there- 
fore obeyed. 

This  absolute  obedience  has  been  termed  autom- 
atism, which  is  a  subject  demanding  careful  con- 
sideration, because  of  its  important  bearing  on  the 
possibiUty  of  criminal  suggestions.  It  was  formerly 
beHeved  that  once  the  subject  succumbed  to  the 
operator  he  became  his  slave,  absolutely  unable  to 
refuse  any  command.  This  behef  is  quite  univer- 
sal in  the  lay  mind,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  quite 
generally  shared  by  the  medical  profession. 

Bramwell  has  made  most  exhaustive  experiments 
on  this  line,  which  have,  I  beUeve,  conclusively 
shown  that  quite  the  reverse  is  true.  He  has  adopted 
the  very  rational  method  of  questioning  the  patient 
under  hypnosis  concerning  his  motives  for  action 
and  refusing  to  act. 

In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  understood  that 
good  subjects  frequently  refuse  suggestions  from 
mere  caprice.  Numerous  instances  of  this  are  on 
record.    I  do  not  refer  to  criminal  suggestions,  but 


POST -HYPNOTIC  SUGGESTION 


91 


actions  which  are  absolutely  harmless.  Bramwell 
mentions  the  case  of  a  young  girl  who  had  many 
times  carried  out  post-hypnotic  suggestions.  On 
this  occasion  he  directed  that  on  waking  she  should 
go  to  the  sideboard  and  pour  for  herself  a  glass  of 
water.  Much  to  his  surprise,  the  suggestion  was 
not  carried  out.  She  was  rehypnotized  and  asked 
why  she  had  refused  to  obey.  She  said  that  she  did 
not  feel  sufficiently  acquainted  with  him  to  take  such 
a  liberty. 

In  my  patient  the  impulse  to  take  off  the  shoe 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  overcome  had  there 
been  ladies  present. 

At  a  college  society  meeting  I  suggested  to  one  of 
the  company  whom  I  had  hypnotized  that  at  a 
certain  signal,  after  waking,  he  should  go  to  the 
punch-bowl  and  take  a  drink  out  of  the  ladle.  He 
took  up  the  ladle  full  of  punch,  raised  it  as  if  to 
drink,  then  hesitated  for  several  seconds,  finally 
poured  it  into  a  glass  and  drank  from  it.  No  com- 
ment was  made,  but  it  was  evident  that  the  impro- 
priety of  the  act  prevented  its  execution. 

The  classic  experiment  of  telling  a  subject  that 
a  lump  of  sugar  is  arsenic  and  that  he  is  to  poison 
his  friend  has  been  assumed  to  prove  criminal 
suggestion.  It  will  usually  be  carried  out.  The 
patient  vrill  also  stab  his  friend  with  an  imaginary 
dagger.  But  further  questioning  reveals  the  fact 
that  the  subject  appreciates  the  distinction  between 
these  experiments  and  the  real  things. 


92      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

Bramwell  tells  of  an  instance  of  a  caretaker  who 
had  shown  his  pluck  by  shooting  at  some  genuine 
burglars.  He  was  afterwards  hypnotized  and  was 
made  to  beheve  that  some  friends  in  an  adjoining 
room  were  breaking  and  entering.  The  ball-car- 
tridges had  been  secretly  replaced  by  blanks,  but  he 
supposed  the  revolver  still  loaded.  Instead  of 
carrying  out  the  suggestion,  he  very  carefully  laid 
the  revolver  away. 

Popular  literature  furnishes  innumerable  instances 
of  behef  in  this  fallacy.  Nearly  all  hypnotists  of 
the  present  generation  have  beheved  it  till  experience 
has  demonstrated  the  contrary.  Bernheim  formerly 
held  this  view  quite  strongly,  but  latterly  admits 
that  not  more  than  four  or  five  per  cent.of  his  patients 
will  accept  criminal  suggestion.  Is  it  unreasonable 
to  suppose  that  this  percentage  is  normally  criminally 
inclined  ? 

As  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  the  great  majority 
agree  with  Bramwell,  who  says:  "I  have  never 
seen  a  suggestion  accepted  in  hypnosis  which 
would  have  been  refused  in  the  normal  state. 
I  have  frequently  noticed  increased  refinement 
in  hypnosis,  subjects  have  refused  suggestions 
which  they  would  have  accepted  in  the  normal 
condition." 

This  may  depend  on  the  early  education  of  the 
subconscious,  the  development  of  a  finer  sensibility 
than  the  later  volitional  years  had  been  able  to  live 
up  to.   Probably  all  of  us  have  had  the  experience 


CRIMINAL  SUGGESTION  93 

of  attempting  to  silence  the  voice  of  conscience  by 
reasoning  with  ourselves  that  the  coveted  sin  wasn't 
so  bad  after  all.  If  one  has  succeeded  in  convincing 
himself  in  this  way,  the  laying  bare  of  his  subcon- 
scious nobler  nature  may  reveal  a  higher  type  of 
manhood. 

"  The  question  as  to  whether  hypnotism  can  be 
successfully  employed  for  criminal  purposes  must 
be  determined  in  each  individual  case  by  the  char- 
acter of  persons  engaged  in  the  experiment."  "  If 
the  subject  be  a  criminal  character  he  might  follow 
the  suggestions  of  a  criminal  hypnotist  and  actually 
perpetrate  a  crime."'  In  such  a  case  a  resort  to 
hypnotism  for  criminal  purposes  would  be  unneces- 
sary, except  to  abohsh  fear  of  detection.  The  effect 
upon  the  will  of  continued  hypnosis  is  not  proved 
to  be  detrimental. 

If  we  accept  the  statement  of  Moll,  that  intel- 
ligent people  and  those  with  strong  wills  are  more 
easily  hypnotizable  than  the  reverse,  it  would  seem 
that  this  very  strength  of  will  is  required  to  perfectly 
control  one's  inhibitory  faculties,  that  extraneous 
thoughts  —  other  ideas  than  those  suggested  —  shall 
be  held  in  abeyance.  The  proof  of  this  statement 
is  the  fact  that  the  good  operator,  whom  it  is  tacitly 
assumed  must  be  of  strong  will,  may  also  be  a  very 
good  subject. 

Hypnotic  experiments  should  be  conducted  with 
great  care,  to  guard  against  erroneous  conclusions. 

"  Bramwell :  Hypnotism. 


94      PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

This  point  is  well  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the 
development  of  the  science. 

One  should  constantly  be  on  his  guard  lest  he  be 
deceived  by  the  subject  pretending  influences  which 
are  not  real.  Until  one  has  become  somewhat  expert, 
he  should  never  employ  a  paid  subject.  It  is  advis- 
able to  experiment  with  a  small  company  of  friends, 
assuming  the  role  both  of  subject  and  operator. 
The  educational  value  of  being  hypnotized  has  not 
been  properly  recognized.  In  this  way  you  have  a 
practical  Imowledge  of  the  phenomena  which  you 
witness  in  your  subject. 

Auto-suggestions  and  preconceived  ideas  are  very 
important  factors  in  producing  unexpected  results. 
The  subject  is  vividly  alert  not  only  to  the  things 
you  say  but  to  your  unuttered  thoughts.  It  is  not 
intended  by  this  to  claim  telepathy,  but  we  all  un- 
consciously disclose  our  thoughts  by  gestures  and 
inflections.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  "  wiUing 
game."  In  this  a  person  is  brought  into  a  room 
blindfolded,  it  having  been  arranged  that  he  should 
find  some  article.  One  or  two  of  the  company  who 
know  what  is  desired  take  the  "  operator  "  by  the 
hand,  and  all  of  the  company  concentrate  their 
attention  on  the  thing  selected.  With  the  attention 
thus  fixed  the  "  guides  "  unconsciously  contract  or 
relax  their  hand  muscles,  and  really  direct  the 
operator  to  the  desired  spot. 

This  is  known  as  "muscle  reading,"  and  often  gives 
surprising  results,  but  it  docs  not  prove  telepathy. 


H  YPN  OS  IS  —  PHENOMENA  9  5 

It  has  been  claimed  that  a  hallucination  of  a  coin 
can  be  doubled  by  a  prism.  With  a  real  object  a 
prism  gives  diplopia,  and  a  patient  who  knows  this 
property  of  a  prism  would  by  the  deductive  process 
perceive  a  double  hallucination.  It  is  possible  to 
secure  the  hallucination  of  two  coins  without  a 
prism,  so  we  need  not  invoke  the  principle  of  false 
orientation  of  a  hallucinatory  image. 


CHAPTER    VII 


SUMMARY 


What  is  hypnotism?  —  Theories.  —  1766,  Mesmer,  animal  mag- 
netism.—  Influence  of  heavenly  bodies.  —  1851,  Professor 
Gregory,  "  Animal  Magnetism."  —  Influence  of  inanimate 
bodies.  —  Confirms  Reichenbach's  odylic  force.  —  Operator's 
will  sufficient  to  control  subject.  —  Defends  phrenology,  but 
suggestion  will  produce  same  results. —  1843-55,  Braid,  three 
distinct  theories:  (i)  Physical  theory,  "hypnotism"  manipula- 
tion of  cranium  produces  characteristic  phenomena  ;  (2)  Sub- 
stitute monoideism  for  hypnotism,  preconceptions  of  subject, 
dominant  ideas,  suggested  by  operator,  magnets,  metals,  and 
sealed  medicines,  inert  except  as  vehicles  of  suggestion ;  (3) 
Double  consciousness.  —  Modern  theories.  —  Charcot,  Salpe- 
triere,  the  discordant  note.  —  Responsible  for  modem  preju- 
dices.—  Bernheim,  suggestion,  the  all-sufficiency  of.  —  Sidis, 
laws  of  suggestibility.  —  Myers,  subliminal  consciousness.  — 
Volition,  subject  not  unconscious, —  Supra-normal:  clairvoy- 
ance, clairaudience,  prevision,  telepathy,  the  problem  of  per- 
sonality. 

The  acceptance  of  the  phenomena  of  hypnotism 
as  facts  forces  upon  us  the  attempt  to  answer  the 
question,  "What  is  hypnotism?" 

Mesmer's  theory  (1766)  of  animal  magnetism, 
a  fluid  which  was  transferred  from  the  operator  to 
the  subject,  seems  to  have  been  held  in  more  or  less 
modified  form  by  Esdaile  and  EHotson. 

William  Gregory,  professor  of  chemistry,  Edin- 
burgh University,  published  in  185 1  his  classic  on 
96 


ANIMAL   MAGNETISM  97 

animal  magnetism.  In  this  no  mention  is  made  of 
the  influence  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  but  he  states 
in  no  uncertain  terms  his  belief  that  some  subtle 
fluid  emanates  from  the  body  of  the  operator.  For 
this  he  adopts  the  name  odylic  force,  which  had  just 
been  brought  forward  by  Baron  Reichenbach.  This 
force  resided,  he  believed,  in  numerous  physical 
substances,  especially  in  magnets,  in  which  later  it 
could  be  seen  by  sensitives  as  a  red  light  at  the  north 
pole  and  a  blue  light  at  the  south  pole. 

Gregory  devotes  a  chapter  to  the  confirmation  of 
phrenology,  stating  the  "  facts  "  as  follows :  "It 
is  really,  in  many  cases,  like  touching  the  keys  of  an 
organ  when  the  bellows  are  full  of  wind,  and  the 
sound  instantly  follows.  If  Tune  be  the  organ 
touched,  the  subject  forthwith  breaks  into  song. 
If  it  be  Self-esteem,  he  throws  back  his  head,  struts 
with  immense  dignity,  and  declares  himself  superior 
to  the  rest  of  mankind.  Touch  the  organ  of  the  Love 
of  Children,  and  he  dandles  an  imaginary  babe, 
with  most  paternal  affection.  Touch  Benevolence, 
the  expression  changes  to  that  of  compassion;  his 
hand  is  thrust  into  his  pocket,  and  held  forth  with 
all  his  store.  Touch  Acquisitiveness,  the  griping 
miser  instantly  appears,  and  with  appropriate  look 
and  speech  the  money  is  restored  to  its  original 
receptacle;  it  is  well  if  the  nearest  object,  however 
bulky,  be  not  '  boned,'  to  use  a  slang  but  expressive 
phrase.  If  Caution  be  the  stop  touched,  the  music 
is  the  most  distressing,  often  appalling  pantomime 


98       PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

of  fear  or  of  misery.  But  if  Hope  be  played  on,  the 
clouds  vanish  and  joyous  sunshine  gilds  every  feature. 
Such  are  a  few  of  the  effects  produced.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  say  that  I  have  done  so  in  cases  when 
no  deception  was  or  could  be  practised."  ^ 

Nevertheless,  he  states  that  a  Mr.  Lewis,  a  man 
"  whose  will  is  singularly  powerful,"  can  call  out 
the  same  faculty  by  touching  many  different  parts. 

So  while  there  are  many  cases  where  "  suggestion 
or  the  will  of  the  operator  or  sympathy  with  him 
will  suffice  to  explain  the  facts,"  "  there  are  other 
cases  in  which  the  explanation  does  not  apply." 
But  the  student  of  to-day  suspects  that  he  had  7iot 
"  taken  all  precautions  to  avoid  the  possibiUty  of 
deception." 

One  of  his  conclusions  is  "  that  not  only  the  human 
body,  but  inanimate  objects,  such  as  magnets, 
crystals,  metals,  etc.,  exert  on  sensitive  persons  an 
influence  identical,  so  far  as  known,  with  that  which 
produces  mesmerism." 

Altho  he  recognized  the  principle  of  suggestion, 
he  evidently  had  no  conception  of  its  tremendous 
scope.  It  should  be  remembered  that  Braid's 
"  Neurypnology  "  had  been  pubUshed  eight  years 
previously,  in  fact  Gregory  mentions  Braid's  "  meth- 
ods "  as  something  different  from  animal  magnetism. 
Evidently  Braid  did  not  appear  so  revolutionar}'  to 
his  contemporaries  as  he  does  to  us.  At  first  his 
principal  claim  was  for  the  physical  basis  —  that 

'  Gregory  :  Animal  Magnetism,  p.  89,  ed,  1877. 


BRAID  99 

mesmerism  was  the  result  of  well-defined  physical 
causes  and  not  dependent  upon  any  animal  magnet- 
ism or  odylic  force.  He  shared  with  many  eminent 
men  of  his  time  a  behef  in  phrenology.  He  con- 
tended that  manipulations  of  the  cranium  produced 
mental  and  physical  phenomena  according  to  the 
part  touched. 

Braid  certainly  was  imbued  with  the  scientific 
spirit,  he  was  a  good  example  of  the  growing  man. 
As  new  facts  developed  he  adapted  his  theories 
till  soon  he  had  dropped  the  physical  basis  entirely. 
But  it  was  this  misconception  which  gained  him  a 
hearing  with  the  scientific  world.  This  with  the 
new  name  made  it  "  worthy  of  further  investigation." 

Altho  Braid's  theories  were  a  regular  development, 
yet  they  may  be  divided  into  three  epochs,  the  first 
being  that  promulgated  in  "  Neurypnology."  The 
second  was  the  repudiation  of  the  term  hypnotism 
on  discovering  that  fixed  gaze  was  sufficient  to 
produce  the  state.  Evidently  this  was  not  sleep,  but 
concentration.  Therefore  he  substituted  the  term 
monoideism,  but  hypnotism  as  a  name  had  come 
to  stay. 

He  proved  that  the  phenomena  were  the  result 
of  dominant  ideas,  of  which  there  are  two  classes, 
the  preconceptions  of  the  patient,  and  the  direct 
and  indirect  suggestions  of  the  operator. 

He  showed  that  wooden  magnets  were  as  effica- 
cious as  steel  if  the  patient  supposed  them  to  be 
steel.    He  discovered  that  metals  possess  no  char- 


100    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

acteristic  mesmeric  properties,  but  are  merely 
vehicles  of  suggestion. 

About  this  time  there  was  considerable  discussion 
about  the  efficacy  of  medicine  in  sealed  glass  tubes. 
The  evidence  of  medicinal  value  was  proved,  but  it 
was  also  found  that  water  could  be  substituted  for 
the  medicine,  and  if  the  patient  were  unaware  of  the 
change  the  same  therapeutic  results  followed.  That 
Braid  advanced  beyond  this  position  was  not  gener- 
ally known  till  Bramwell  discovered  some  of  his  later 
writings,  which  either  were  never  published  or  were 
but  slightly  circulated.  The  third  phase  of  Braid's 
theory  was  the  idea  of  double  consciousness,  which 
we  shall  see  later  is  the  most  generally  accepted  to- 
day. While  the  modem  theories  exhibit  minor  dif- 
ferences, yet  there  is  almost  a  consensus  of  opinion  on 
the  cardinal  points. 

This  harmony  is  marred  by  one  discordant  note  — 
Charcot  and  the  Salpetri^re.  Bramwell  says :  "  The 
theories  of  this  school  are  now  almost  universally 
discredited  by  those  practically  engaged  in  hypnotic 
work.  Even  as  far  back  as  the  second  International 
Congress  of  Psychology  (London,  1892),  they  had 
almost  ceased  to  attract  attention."  Nevertheless, 
Charcot  has  been  very  widely  read,  and  I  have  yet  to 
find  an  instance  where  a  modem  author  refers  to  the 
"  dangers  of  hypnotism,"  and  its  "  hysterical  na- 
ture," which  is  not  directly  traceable  to  Salpetri^re. 

For  example,  in  Church  and  Peterson,  "  Nervous 
Disease  "   (1903),  is  the  statement  in  reference  to 


CHARCOT  lOl 

susceptibility :  "  Those  of  mediocre  self- conscious- 
ness, those  accustomed  to  unquestioningly  obey  — 
hence  children  and  some  hysterics  —  are  the  most 
ready  subjects.  .  .  .  There  is  no  longer  any  doubt 
that  its  frequent  repetition  is  harmful  to  the  individ- 
ual. It  tends  to  destroy  self-reliance,  and  to  make 
patients  imaginative,  weak-minded,  and  neuras- 
thenic. It  also  has  a  tendency  to  bring  discredit 
upon  its  employer."  The  adoption  of  Charcot's 
classification  shows  the  source  of  the  information  on 
which  these  misstatements  arc  based.  The  question 
of  susceptibility  has  been  sufficiently  considered, 
and  the  ''  disrepute  "  is  evidently  being  fostered  by 
the  Charcot  theory. 

It  is  therefore  important  to  state  this  in  some  detail, 
in  order  to  refute  its  various  dogmas. 

1.  Hypnosis  is  a  morbid  condition  which  can  be 
induced  only  in  the  hysterical. 

2.  Hypnosis  can  be  produced  by  purely  physical 
means,  that  is,  a  person  could  be  hypnotized  without 
his  being  aware  of  the  fact. 

3.  Hysteria  may  be  produced  in  tr}dng  to  induce 
hypnosis. 

4.  Magnets  and  metals  induce  characteristic 
phenomena. 

In  order  to  understand  the  "  hysterical "  bias,  it 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  patients  at  Sal- 
petriere  are  probably  all  hysterical,  and  very  natu- 
rally they  might  under  hypnosis  exhibit  many  of  the 
symptoms  of  their  abnormal  state,  not  of  the  normal 


102    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

State  of  healthy  individuals.  Then,  again,  it  seems 
strange,  if  hysterics  are  alone  susceptible,  that  the 
data  should  have  been  so  largely  drawn  from  "  one 
patient  who  had  long  been  an  inmate  of  the  institu- 
tion." One  would  suppose  that  hypnosis  would  have 
been  successful  in  every  case.  Does  not  this  very 
paucity  of  cases  prove  the  insusceptibility  of  hyster- 
ics? 

The  testimony  of  almost  all  other  experimenters 
is  that  over  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  healthy  individ- 
uals are  susceptible.  One  needs  but  to  read  the 
history  of  Braid's  hfe,  and  note  how  he  proved  the 
only  virtue  in  magnets,  metals,  etc.,  was  due  to  the 
suggestion  imparted  by  the  operator  or  the  precon- 
ceived ideas  of  the  patient,  to  be  somewhat  wearied 
at  the  rejuvenation  of  the  error  at  Salpetriere. 

That  hysteria  might  be  caused  by  lack  of  caution, 
seems,  a  priori,  not  to  be  impossible,  but  I  have  yet 
to  learn  of  an  authentic  case.  The  widespread  in- 
fluence of  these  false  ideas  is  simply  another  illus- 
tration that  a  falsehood  travels  so  much  faster  than 
its  refutation  that  the  latter  never  catches  up. 

With  the  ground  thus  cleared  we  are  ready  to  con- 
sider the  tenable  theories.  The  key-note  of  the  Nancy 
school,  or  rather  of  Bernheim,  is  suggestion.  "  Every 
one  is  suggestible,  and  if  you  take  some  one  and 
suggest  to  him  to  become  more  suggestible,  that  is 
hypnotism.  You  suggest  to  the  patient  to  go  to  sleep, 
and  he  obeys  and  is  asleep." 

The  trouble  with  this  theory  is  that  there  is  an  alert 


MYERS  103 

Stage,  in  which  the  subject  reasons  and  evidences 
hightened  sense  perception.  Increased  suggesti- 
bility is  certainly  a  manifestation  of  hypnosis,  but 
this  depends  upon  increased  sensitivity. 

Sidis  has  studied  the  laws  of  suggestibility  in  both 
the  normal  and  hypnotic  state,  and  formulates  them 
as  follows : 

In  the  waking  state.  —  Suggestion  is  successful  in 
direct  proportion  to  its  indirectness,  and  the  subject's 
inattention.  That  is,  if  preoccupied,  he  can  be  more 
easily  influenced  to  do  unconsciously  the  thing  sug- 
gested. 

In  the  hypnotic  state.  —  Suggestion  is  effective  in 
direct  proportion  to  its  directness  and  subject's  at- 
tention. 

The  only  conception  with  which  the  phenomena 
can  be  harmonized  is  the  idea  of  subhminal  con- 
sciousness so  ably  brought  out  by  the  late  W.  H.  H. 
Myers.  Sidis  has  elaborated  this,  and  it  is  now  — 
shall  we  say  estabhshed?  —  well,  certainly  a  good 
working  hypothesis.  Altho  it  was  mentioned  in  the 
chapter  on  "  Consciousness,"  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  emphasize  it  by  repetition.  Every  sight,  sound, 
smell,  taste,  or  tactile  sensation  which  the  nerve  end 
organs  are  capable  of  appreciating,  is  conveyed  to 
the  brain,  there  to  be  stored  away  as  a  memory.  A 
large  part  of  these  facts  never  rise  into  consciousness, 
or  if  consciously  perceived  at  the  time,  are  soon  rele- 
gated to  the  subconscious.  This  subliminal  con- 
sciousness presides  over  most  of  the  body  functions, 


I04    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

some  of  which  have  passed  absolutely  beyond  con- 
scious control,  like  the  inhibitory  control  of  the  heart- 
beat. Others,  like  respiration,  are  still  subject  to 
conscious  control,  if  the  conscious  sees  fit  to  exer- 
cise it. 

The  conscious  self  decides  which  of  the  many 
sense  perceptions  are  relevant  to  the  subject  upon 
which  the  attention  is  concentrated,  and  ignores  the 
remainder.  That  is,  the  human  will  not  only  decides 
whether  or  no  it  will  accept  as  motives  to  action  cer- 
tain sense  perceptions,  but,  moreover,  refuses  to 
listen  to  many. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  wiUingness  to  be  hypno- 
tized is  absolutely  essential.  Now  this  willingness 
is  a  throwing  off  one's  normal  seclusion,  and  in- 
viting the  senses  to  bring  in  their  retainers.  This 
willingness  to  listen  to  suggestions  implies  the  prob- 
abiUty  of  accepting  them,  unless  they  offend  the 
moral  sense. 

One  has  temporarily  estabUshed  the  operator  as 
the  doorkeeper  of  his  mental  sanctuary,  and  has 
agreed  to  be  polite  to  his  guests,  so  long  as  they  do 
not  transgress  the  laws  of  good  breeding.  This 
condition  explains  why,  at  first,  most  hypnotists 
supposed  their  subjects  to  be  unable  to  resist  sugges- 
tions, but  afterward  discovered  that  volition  was 
only  suspended,  not  lost.  The  volition  seems  to 
be  able  to  refuse  improper  suggestions  either  by 
arousing  the  subject  or  by  changing  the  alert  stage 
into  one  of  lethargy. 


PRINCE  105 

Amnesia  in  the  waking  state  of  the  events  of  the 
hypnotic  does  not  prove  that  the  subject  was  uncon- 
scious at  the  time  of  their  occurrence.  In  fact,  at  a 
subsequent  hypnosis  the  memory  of  all  that  trans- 
pired in  the  former  hypnosis  is  perfect,  which  proves 
quite  the  opposite  of  unconsciousness. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  our  modem  conception 
of  the  hypnotic  state  as  one  in  which  the  subject 
knowingly  accepts  ludicrous  suggestions,  forgets  his 
own  name,  accepts  hallucinations,  and  then  forgets 
it  all  on  waking,  necessitates  some  seeming  contra- 
dictions.   It  involves  a  deal  of  subtle  reasoning. 

A  number  of  instances  are  on  record  where  this 
double  consciousness  has  become  so  dissociated  as 
to  give  rise  to  double  personality  —  two  individuals 
using  the  same  brain  and  each  unconscious  of  the 
other.    The  case  of  the  Rev.  Mr,  Hanna  is  a  sample. 

Dr.  Morton  Prince'  has  reported  a  case  where 
hypnosis  revealed  four  distinct  aggregations  of 
consciousness,  all  of  which  were  sufficiently  charac- 
teristic to  be  called  personaUties. 

The  problem  of  personality  is  manifestly  beyond 
our  scope,  but  we  must  consider  the  implication  of 
the  theory  of  double  consciousness.  The  subcon- 
scious appreciation  of  time  has  been  referred  to. 
The  abihty  to  wake  at  a  certain  time  is  a  very  com- 
mon experience.  Many  eminent  men  have  stated 
that  they  habitually  prepare  speeches  by  a  process 
which  necessitates  what  Carpenter  called  "  uncon- 

'The  Dissociation  of  a  Personality,  1906. 


I06    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

scious  cerebration."  The  essential  data  are  noted 
and  then  the  mind  —  the  conscious  mind  —  drops 
the  matter.  When  the  occasion  arrives  the  speech 
is  made  or  the  paper  is  written  with  a  lucidity  which 
indicates  that  some  power  has  been  at  work  during 
the  subject's  conscious  neglect.  Not  only  does  hyp- 
notism reveal  a  hightened  moral  sense  in  the  sub- 
conscious, but  Sidis  has  proved  by  the  sphygmo- 
graph  and  pneumograph  a  hyperesthesia  of  all  the 
senses. 

Concerning  the  possibility  of  clairvoyance,  clair- 
audience,  prevision,  and  telepathy,  an  endless  amount 
of  study  and  investigation  is  required  before  one  has 
any  right  to  an  opinion  or  can  have  an  intelligent 
opinion.  The  Society  for  Psychic  Research  has 
accumulated  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  which  has 
convinced  a  portion  of  the  members  of  these  supra- 
normal  occurrences.  Another  portion  still  feels  that 
the  evidence  is  insufficient. 

One  point  should  never  be  lost  sight  of,  that  any 
of  these  questionable  phenomena,  to  be  of  evidential 
value  to  a  third  party,  should  be  carefully  recorded 
and  attested  at  the  time.  Any  case  of  prevision 
should  be  so  recorded  and  witnessed  prior  to  the 
time  of  fulfilment. 

Hypnotism  at  a  distance  is,  I  believe,  unproved. 
A  subject  might  be  given  a  post-hypnotic  suggestion 
that  at  a  certain  time  he  would  fall  asleep,  and  in 
this  sense  hypnotism  beyond  the  range  of  personal 
contact  of  operator  and  subject  is  quite  possible. 


HYPNOTISM   AT  A   DISTANCE  107 

The  believers  in  animal  magnetism  were  wont  to 
claim  that  the  operator's  will  was  obeyed  quite  as 
perfectly  as  his  spoken  commands.  I  do  not  re- 
member seeing  this  claim  put  forth  by  modern 
hypnotists. 

The  greatest  caution  is  here  necessary  lest  one 
betray  his  feehngs  by  inflection  or  gesture.  Many 
of  the  errors  of  recent  experiments  have  arisen  from 
the  erroneous  conception  that  the  subject  was  un- 
conscious. The  fact  that  he  is  hyperesthetic  should 
be  constantly  borne  in  mind. 


CHAPTER    VIII 


SUMMARY 


Psychotherapeutics.  —  Definition  of  therapeutics.  —  Drugs,  sur- 
gery, orthopedics,  electricity,  mechanotherapy,  refraction,  hy- 
drotherapy, massage,  in  all  a  physical  element.  —  Psycho- 
therapeutics, elimination  of  the  physical  agent.  —  Man  a 
suggestible  animal.  —  Historical :  "  Thy  faith  hath  made  thee 
whole ;  "  royal  touch  ;  shrines  ;  prayer  cure ;  Christian  Science ; 
"  mental  healing ;  "  Whipple,  New  York  ;  Newcomb,  Boston. 

—  Claim  everything,  but  refuse  to  substantiate. —  Silent  treat- 
ments, accord  with  Sidis'  law.  —  Indirect  suggestions, 
accord  with  Sidis'  law.  —  Bernheim,  a-hypnotic  sugges- 
tion.—  Hypnosis    necessary   to   overcome   auto-suggestions.^ 

—  Method  of  giving  treatments.  —  Sphere  of  psycho- 
therapeutics :  subconscious  memory  of  pain,  hallucinations, 
insomnia,  neuralgia,  constipation.  —  Drug  habit  and  degen- 
eracy, Quackenboss.  —  Dubois  :  nervous  diseases.  —  Organic 
disease  .'  —  Anderson's  "  muscle  bed."  —  Thinking  out  an  ex- 
ercise. —  An  adjunct  to  general  medicine. 

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS 

Therapeutics  is  the  science  which  treats  of 
remedial  agents,  first  and  foremost  among  which, 
from  time  immemorial,  have  been  drugs.  We  have 
extended  the  definition  to  include  surgery,  electricity, 
orthopedics,  and  mechanotherapy.  The  correction 
of  refractive  errors  by  means  of  lenses  may  very 
properly  be  classed  as  orthopedics.  In  all  of  these 
well- recognized   divisions   of   therapeutics   there   is 


SUGGESTIVE   THERAPEUTICS  IO9 

evident  a  physical  means,  namely,  the  drug,  the  knife, 
the  electricity,  the  mechanical  appHance. 

As  suggestive  therapeutics  means  the  elimination 
of  these  physical  agents,  and  the  use  of  mental 
forces,  psychotherapeutics  would  seem  to  be  the 
most  logical  term.  Psychics  is  certainly  the  anto- 
nym of  physics. 

The  mental  control  w^hich  every  individual  ex- 
ercises over  his  various  functions  is  a  matter  of 
common  knowledge.  The  proposition  that  this 
normal  control  can  be  interfered  with  by  outside 
influences  needs  no  proof. 

Now  if  disease  sometimes  results  from  abnormal 
mental  influences,  what  could  be  more  rational 
than  to  expect  to  cure  by  reestablishing  the  mental 
tone  ?  The  history  of  civilization  is  replete  vdth  in- 
stances of  the  application  of  this  principle,  tho  it  is 
only  in  recent  years  that  we  have  come  to  recognize 
the  underlying  truth  that  "  man  is  a  suggestible 
animal." 

An  adequate  historical  review  of  this  subject 
would  fill  many  volumes.  Rehgious  devotees  in  all 
ages  have  practised  the  heahng  art.  It  is  evident 
that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  it  was  a 
matter  of  common  belief.  Successful  heahng  was 
regarded  as  the  criterion  of  the  truth  of  the 
rehgion. 

Jesus  seems  to  have  clearly  perceived  the  truth, 
when  he  said  to  the  woman  who  touched  the  hem  of 
his  garment,  "  Thy  faith  hath  made  thee  whole." 


no    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

The  account  reads  that  this  power  was  transferred 
to  the  disciples,  who  "  laid  hands  on  the  sick  and 
they  recovered." 

The  doctrine  of  the  di\dne  right  of  kings  carried 
with  it  the  behef  in  the  royal  touch.  Andrew  D. 
White  says:  "  This  mode  of  cure  began,  so  far  as 
history  throws  light  upon  it,  with  Edward  the  Con- 
fessor in  the  eleventh  century,  and  came  dowTi  from 
reign  to  reign,  passing  from  the  Cathohc  saint  to 
the  Protestant  debauchees  upon  the  EngUsh  throne, 
with  ever-increasing  miraculous  efficacy. 

"  Testimony  to  the  reahty  of  these  cures  is  over- 
whelming. As  a  simple  matter  of  fact  there  are  no 
miracles  of  heahng  in  the  history  of  the  human  race 
more  thoroly  attested  than  those  wTought  by  the 
touch  of  Henry  VIIL,  Elizabeth,  the  Stuarts,  and 
especially  of  that  chosen  vessel,  Charles  II. 

"  Altho  Ehzabeth  could  not  bring  herself  to  be- 
lieve in  the  realities  of  these  cures,  Doctor  Tooker, 
the  queen's  chaplain,  afterward  Dean  of  Litchfield, 
testifies  fully  of  his  own  knowledge  of  the  cures 
wrought  by  her,  as  also  does  William  Clowes,  the 
queen's  surgeon.  Fuller  in  his  Church  History  gives 
an  account  of  a  Roman  CathoUc,  who  was  thus 
cured  by  the  queen's  touch  and  converted  to  Protes- 
tantism. Similar  testimony  exists  as  to  the  cures 
wrought  by  James  I.  Charles  also  enjoyed  the 
same  power  in  spite  of  the  public  declaration  against 
its  reahty  by  Pariiament.  .  .  .  But  the  most  incon- 
trovertible  evidence   of   this   miraculous   power   is 


ROYAL    TOUCH  III 

found  in  the  case  of  Charles  II,,  the  most  thoroly 
cynical  debauchee  who  ever  sat  on  the  English 
throne  before  the  advent  of  George  IV.  He  touched 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand  persons,  and  the  out- 
lay for  gold  medals  issued  to  the  afflicted  on  these 
occasions  rose  in  some  years  as  high  as  ;^  10,000.  .  .  . 
William  III.  evidently  regarded  the  whole  thing  as 
a  superstition,  and  on  one  occasion  is  said  to  have 
touched  a  patient,  saying  to  him :  '  God  give  you 
better  health  and  more  sense.'  Whiston  assures  us 
that  this  person  was  healed  notvidthstanding  Will- 
iam's incredulity.  This  curative  power  was,  then, 
acknowledged  far  and  wide  by  CathoHcs  and  Protes- 
tants alike,  upon  the  Continent,  in  Great  Britain 
and  America,  and  it  descended,  not  only  in  spite  of 
the  transition  of  the  English  kings  from  Catholicism 
to  Protestantism,  but  in  spite  of  the  transition  from 
the  legitimate  sovereignty  of  the  Stuarts  to  the 
illegitimate  succession  of  the  house  of  Orange,  and 
yet  within  a  few  years  after  the  whole  world  held  this 
belief,  it  was  dead,  it  had  shrivelled  away  in  the 
growing  scientific  light  at  the  dawn  of  the  eighteenth 
century." ' 

But  humanity  has  not  lost  its  faith  in  divine  heal- 
ing. Even  in  the  twentieth  century  the  world  has  its 
shrines,  where  we  have  the  best  of  evidence  for 
believing  many  genuine  cures  are  wrought.  Every 
year  pilgrimages  are  made  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Ann 
de  Beaupr^,  near  Quebec.     Scarce  a  week  passes 

'  History  of  the  Conflict  of  Tlieology  and  Science  in  Christendom. 


112    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

but  the  press  has  some  notices  of  the  prayer  cures 
of  the  prophet  Sanford  at  Shiloh,  Me. 

The  unprecedented  growth  of  Christian  Science 
among  the  most  intelUgent  class  of  the  community 
is  proof  of  an  underlying  curative  principle. 

Mr.  Alfred  Farlow,  who  seems  to  be  the  spokesman 
for  Boston,  says:  "Various  magnetic  and  mental 
forms  of  treatment  have  long  been  in  vogue,  but 
their  success  has  never  been  sufficiently  uniform 
to  command  any  great  amount  of  attention. 

"  Mrs.  Eddy,  the  discoverer  and  founder  of 
Christian  Science,  was  once  treated  by  a  magnetic 
practitioner  and  temporarily  relieved,  but  the  bene- 
fits were  not  permanent.  After  her  discovery  she 
recognized  that  magnetic  treatment  depended  upon 
the  human  will,  in  contradistinction  to  the  Divine 
Mind,  and  therefore  fell  short  of  the  exalted  spiritual 
method  which  was  employed  by  Jesus  and  the  Apos- 
tles, hence  its  inadequacy." ' 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  subtle  distinctions 
of  the  various  sects  of  psychic  healers.  Many  phil- 
osophers have  struggled  with  the  problem  of  the 
relation  of  the  human  will  to  the  divine,  and  to  some 
of  us  common  mortals  it  seems  somewhat  doubtful 
if  these  people  can  always  distinguish  between  the 
manifestations  of  human  souls  and  the  presence 
of  the  great  Over  Soul. 

Very  much  like  the  Christian  Scientists  are  the 
mental    or    "  metaphysical "    healers,    so    called. 

"  TAe  Medical  Student,  April,  1906. 


METAPHYSICAL   HEALERS  113 

Altho  their  teaching  is  quite  similar  to  the  views  of 
the  followers  of  Mrs.  Eddy,  they  do  not  seem  to 
regard  her  in  the  light  of  a  discoverer,  characteriz- 
ing the  "  truths  "  she  has  uttered  as  a  mild  modifica- 
tion of  theosophy.  They  do  not  deny  the  existence 
of  disease,  but  regard  it  as  an  unnecessary  evil  — 
the  product  of  fear,  worry,  and  unrest.  They  exalt 
the  preeminence  of  the  individual's  soul,  its  com- 
munion with  the  Over  Soul,  from  which  it  can  draw 
unhmited  power,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  cul- 
tivating a  serene  and  calm  inner  consciousness,  by 
which  they  claim  man  regains  his  birthright  of  pre- 
siding over  his  physical  states. 

The  philosophy  is  lofty,  ethical,  and,  in  the  main, 
true.  These  people,  like  the  scientists,  give  silent 
treatments,  both  patient  and  healer  sitting  with 
closed  eyes.  A  prescription  is  given  to  take  home, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  sample : 
"  I  trust  every  organ, 
I  govern  myself  with  Patience  and  Power." 

This  indirect  suggestion  is,  as  we  know,  most  ef- 
fective for  the  waking  consciousness,  and  if  fre- 
quently repeated  is  likely  to  become  indelibly 
stamped  in  the  subhminal  consciousness. 

Mr.  Charles  Newcomb,  of  Boston,  says:  "  Plain 
suggestions  of  confidence,  patience,  gladness,  and 
decision  often  bring  us  back  to  the  trail  we  have  lost 
thru  the  uncertainty  of  our  own  power  and  free- 
dom."'    The  philosophy  seems  to  be  very  largely 

•  Newcomb  :  The  Discovery  of  a  Lost  Trail. 


114    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

Emersonian.  These  people  take  Emerson  literally, 
where  many  have  supposed  he  was  dealing  in  poetic 
images.  It  is  a  philosophy  of  Hfe  itself,  and  the  men- 
tal power  over  bodily  states  is  only  one  of  its  many 
beneficent  phases.  Its  watchword  is:  "No  regrets 
for  the  past,  no  fears  for  the  future,  live  in  the  pres- 
ent above  time." 

The  writer  had  the  pleasure  during  the  spring  of 
1906  of  hstening  to  a  course  of  lectures  by  Mr.  New- 
comb.  He  is  a  man  of  great  breadth  of  culture,  and 
an  earnest  student  of  all  matters  psychic.  But  the 
extravagant  claims  for  the  all-sufficiency  of  psychic 
heahng  is  almost  painful.  He  speaks  with  the  most 
absolute  assurance  concerning  technical  subjects, 
little  realizing  the  imphcations. 

For  example,  he  claims  to  have  cured  near- 
sightedness, when  upon  inquiry  he  has  no  evidence 
to  offer  which  is  of  the  shghtest  value  to  an  investi- 
gator. He  claims  to  be  able  to  diagnose  pathological 
conditions  by  psychic  sight  or  clairvoyance,  but  re- 
fused to  make  the  experiment  with  an  eye  case  which 
the  writer  proposed  to  send  him.  He  would,  how- 
ever, treat  a  case  which  was  sent  to  him  by  an  oculist, 
provided  the  patient  was  really  desirous  of  being 
treated,  but  experimentation  was  ruled  out. 

In  1897  Leander  Edmund  Whipple  estabhshed  in 
New  York  the  American  School  of  Metaphysics. 
Both  didactic  and  correspondence  courses  are  of- 
fered. In  the  preface  to  "  The  Philosophy  of  Mental 
Healing,"  Mr.  Whipple  says:    "The  writer  enter- 


WHIPPLE  1 1 5 

tains  the  opinion  that  absolute  truth  can  safely 
invite  any  amount  of  investigation,  together  with  the 
most  thoro  and  accurate  tests  that  can  be  applied 
thru  logic,  reason,  and  philosophical  thought  or 
in  scientific  experiment  of  the  most  accurate  de- 
scription." Noticing  in  one  of  his  announcements 
that,  among  other  anomahes  of  the  eyes,  astigmia 
could  be  cured  by  his  system,  the  writer  communi- 
cated with  him,  asking  if  he  had  any  cases  of  this 
defect  which  had  been  examined  by  a  competent 
ocuUst  both  before  and  after  the  cure. 

Astigmia  is  a  deformity  of  the  front  of  the  eye  — 
the  cornea  —  and  can  be  accurately  measured  by 
the  keratometer,  which  is  an  inStiument  in  nearly 
every  ocuHst's  office.  Altho  it  may  vary  some  in 
the  course  of  years,  oculists  cannot  cure  it,  they 
can  only  correct  it  with  glasses. 

The  follo\\-ing  very  courteous  reply  was  received : 

"  Your  esteemed  favor  was  duly  received.  I  do 
not  know  of  tests  made  imder  the  full  requirements 
suggested  by  your  question,  tho  many  cases  have 
similar  testimony  in  a  partial  way.  It  is  difficult  to 
bring  about  from  the  standpoint  of  medical  diagno- 
sis and  of  metaphysical  practise.  Tests  for  the  sake 
of  experiment  never  succeed.  There  is  mental 
law  underneath  it  I  feel  sure.  Consequently  such 
records  as  you  ask  for  are  not  obtainable  as  far  as 
I  know.  More  complete  methods  will  become  es- 
tablished in  time,  I  believe.    The  mental  law  that 


Il6    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

can  result  in  a  radical  cure  will  not  withstand  much 
of  the  different  kind  of  action  in  the  way  at  the  time 
and  results  do  not  appear  unless  the  action  is  very 
clear  and  free.  Naturally  enough,  the  medically 
trained  mind  thinks  that  the  same  methods  of  exam- 
ination and  test  as  appUed  in  medicine  should  apply 
with  metaphysics,  but  the  conditions  are  vastly 
different.  An  experimenting  thought  destroys  most 
of  the  power.  I  recognize  the  value  of  such  tests  and 
records,  but  I  have  not  seen  yet  how  they  can  be 
brought  about.  Abnormal  physical  conditions  have 
their  complete  correspondences  in  mental  states  or 
experiences  which  act  as  causes.  After  these  causes 
are  stopped  in  action  physical  conditions  can  be- 
come adjusted  to  the  changed  mentality  by  natural 
process  and  wdthout  further  intervention  from  out- 
side. This  I  believe  to  be  a  fact  in  mental  therapeu- 
tics. The  eyes  being  so  closely  associated  with  the 
nervous  system  are  responsive  to  about  every  change 
in  mental  action,  for  the  mind  controls  the  nervous 
system.  I  have  seen  total  blindness  of  one  eye  re- 
stored upon  the  removal  of  the  mental  shock  of  a 
severe  injury  to  the  cheek  under  that  eye,  and  simi- 
lar results  in  many  varieties  of  supposed  physical 
conditions. 

*'  Yours  sincerely, 

"  Leander  Edmund  Whipple." 

To  a  "  medically  trained  mind  "  this  seems  like 
begging  the  question.     This  propensity  to  "  claim 


A -HYPNOTIC   SUGGESTION  II7 

everything  "  which  is  so  universal  mth  the  practi- 
tioners of  prayer  cure,  Christian  Science,  and  mental 
healing  seems  inconsistent  w^ith  the  high  moral  tone 
which  these  people  exhibit.  In  charity  one  is  forced 
to  believe  that  they  are  honest  but  are  self-deceived. 
The  analogy  between  this  state  of  mind  and  the  de- 
ductive faculty  exhibited  by  the  hypnotized  individ- 
ual is  very  striking.  He  is  no  longer  disturbed  by 
the  restraints  of  the  critical  and  judicial  normal 
consciousness.  May  it  not  be  that  this  "  confidence  " 
contributes  greatly  to  success  ? 

A-hypnotic  suggestion  is  a  means  of  treatment 
recognized  by  many  of  the  medical  profession.  It 
is  the  method  used  very  largely  by  Bemheim.  Doc- 
tor Petersen,  in  describing  his  visit  to  Nancy  in 
1891,  says:  "  From  bed  to  bed  we  went,  and  after 
the  individual  case  was  examined,  Bemheim  would 
address  the  sufferer  in  a  gentle  but  firm  voice,  in  no 
way  different  from  his  conversational  rhythm.  He 
told  them  to  sleep  either  at  once  or  before  he  left 
the  ward,  suggesting  the  alleviation  or  disappear- 
ance of  their  pains,  made  them  imaginary  tonics, 
at  times  touched  the  seat  of  pain,  and  assured  them 
that  when  their  slumber  had  ceased  —  he  fixing  its 
duration  as  well  as  the  right  time  for  it  —  they 
\  would  then  feel  comfortable  and  in  a  happier 
mood." ' 

Doctor  Petersen  continues:  "  The  idea  therefore 

'  Translation  of  Hypnotism  and  Its  Application  to  Practical 
Medicine.     Wetterstrand. 


Il8    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

that  to  receive  a  suggestion,  which  is  to  be  carried 
out  even  to  an  act,  necessitates  a  previous  deep  / 
unconsciousness,  is  erroneous  in  many  respects. 
The  patient  has  entered  into  the  receptive  state  by 
what  is  explained  as  an  inhibition  of  the  cerebral 
cortex,  and  a  potent  force  has  taken  possession  of  him 
by  directing  both  the  mental  and  physical  functions." 

The  success  of  this  method  depends  entirely  upon 
the  receptivity  of  the  patient,  and  upon  his  intellec- 
tuality. He  must  certainly  be  above  the  average 
intelhgence  or  have  unUmited  confidence  in  his 
physician  to  make  it  effective.  The  majority  of 
chronic  cases  are  dominated  by  preconceived  ideas, 
which  they  are  unable  to  suppress,  and  which  the 
operator  is  unable  to  overcome.  In  this  emergency 
there  is  needed  some  means  of  increasing  the  sus- 
ceptibihty  to  healthful  suggestions,  and  of  counter- 
acting harmful  ones.  Whatever  may  be  one's  view 
as  to  the  exact  nature  of  hypnotism,  it  is  universally 
admitted  that  it  increases  the  patient's  suggestibiUty. 

Pyschics  has  taken  quite  a  hold  of  our  Boston 
mind,  and  the  inteUigent  patient  has  seen  enough 
cures  by  other  than  medicinal  means  to  be  already 
convinced  of  a  mental  control  of  body  functions. 
So  that  often  it  is  only  necessary  to  explain  to  him 
the  reflex  action  of  the  lower  brain,  and  tell  him  that 
by  properly  conducted  treatments  you  can  increase 
his  subconscious  control  of  the  various  somatic 
functions  which  make  for  health.  He  is  then  put 
in  a  comfortable  chair,  the  head  resting,  eyes  closed, 


A -HYPNOTIC  SUGGESTION 


119 


and  told  to  banish  from  his  mind  all  extraneous 
thoughts,  to  make  himself  passive,  so  as  to  receive 
any  suggestions  you  have  to  offer. 

You  then  talk  to  him  in  a  quiet  but  reassuring 
way,  accompanied  by  passes  over  the  affected  part, 
expatiating  upon  the  profoundness  of  mental  control, 
if  he  only  put  himself  in  the  receptive  state.  This 
is  manifestly  a-hypnotic  treatment.  If  stronger 
effects  are  desired,  hypnosis  should  be  induced  by 
any  of  the  methods  previously  mentioned.  In  this 
state  the  suggestions  should  be  direct,  in  the  form 
of  commands. 

Granted  this  fact  of  the  subconscious  control  of 
functions  and  bodily  states,  granted  that  hypnosis 
lays  the  subconscious  under  the  operator's  control, 
what  could  be  more  logical  than  that  healthful 
suggestions  could  be  thus  made  which  would  be 
effectively  carried  out? 

Every  one  who  has  given  attention  to  this  subject 
has  found  that  he  can  make  aw/o-suggestions,  which 
are  helpful  or  harmful  as  he  wills.  This  refers  not 
alone  to  mental  states,  but  to  physical  health.  Is 
it  not  possible  that  the  coming  man  vdll  become  so 
proficient  in  marshalling  the  resources  of  his  sub- 
liminal consciousness  that  he  vdll  become  his  own 
physician,  exercise  an  increased  power  of  resistance, 
and  ward  off  many  diseases?  Hypnosis  to-day 
furnishes  a  means  of  aiding  the  subconscious  mind 
of  the  patient,  thus  working  out  practical  cures, 
and  in  it  there  would  seem  to  be  great  possibilities. 


<- 


I20    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

Without  attempting  to  define  the  limitations  of 
psychotherapeutics,  it  is  generally  admitted  that 
its  special  sphere  of  usefukiess  is  with  functional 
and  nervous  diseases.  The  writer  reported  before 
the  Boston  Homeopathic  Medical  Society  some 
years  ago'  a  case  of  subconscious  memory  of  pain 
in  the  eyes,  which  yielded  to  a  very  few  hypnotic 
treatments  after  glasses  and  remedies  had  failed. 

Sidis  has  reported  some  interesting  cases  of 
epilepsy,  which  upon  hypnosis  proved  to  be  of 
psychic  origin.  The  patients  no  longer  remembered 
the  cause  of  the  first  attack,  but  under  hypnosis  the 
whole  history  was  obtained.  Counter  suggestions 
in  this  state  entirely  eradicated  the  abnormal  in- 
fluence, and  the  seizures  ceased.  Along  this  same 
line  is  the  work  being  done  by  Prof.  James  J.  Put- 
nam, of  Harvard,  in  the  treatment  of  hysteria  by 
"  Freud's  Method  of  Psycho- Analysis."  ^ 

Insomnia  is  one  of  the  very  intractable  symptoms 
of  many  diseases  and  is  also  idiopathic.  Wetter- 
strand  says:  "  I  sincerely  beheve  there  is  no  better 
remedy  for  insomnia  than  hypnosis,  and  that  it  is 
absolutely  harmful  to  prescribe  soporifics,  because 
they  only  strengthen  the  invahd's  belief  that  he 
cannot  go  to  sleep  without  the  accustomed  dose." 
He  reports  eight  failures  in  forty-two  cases  treated. 

In  neuralgias  he  says:  "  The  remedy  has  seldom 
been   a   failure   when  the   patient   slept   soundly." 

'  M  E.  Medical  Gazette,  June,  1899. 

*  Journal  of  Abnormal  Psychology,  April,  1906. 


DUBOIS  121 

Cures  from  epilepsy  and  chorea  are  reported  by 
Wetterstrand. 

In  stammering  Wetterstrand  cured  fifteen,  forty- 
eight  treated.  Neurasthenias  are  difficult  cases  to 
treat,  as  they  are  hard  to  hypnotize.  The  same 
applies  to  hysteria.  Morphinism  has  been  dealt 
with  very  successfully. 

Doctor  Quackenboss,  New  York,  has  reported 
great  successes  in  breaking  up  the  cigarette  habit 
and  other  forms  of  intemperance.  There  was  pub- 
lished in  a  New  York  paper  a  report  of  an  interview 
with  Doctor  Quackenboss  concerning  his  reviving 
a  moribund  patient,  who  had  been  calling  for  him 
previous  to  sinking  into  the  comatose  state. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Paul  Dubois,  professor  of 
neuropathology  at  the  University  of  Berne,  has, 
during  the  present  year  (1906),  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  English  readers  thru  the  translation  of 
the  French  edition  of  his  "  Psychic  Treatment  of 
Nervous  Disorders."  Accepting  the  Bemheim 
doctrine  of  suggestion,  and  believing  that  every  one 
is  suggestible,  he  ignores  all  subtle  and  subconscious 
methods,  and  treats  these  cases  "  in  the  open  "  by 
what  he  calls  the  "  reeducation  of  the  reason." 
After  showing  his  patient  that  his  nervous  affection 
is  the  result  of  his  misconceptions,  he  proceeds  to 
reason  with  him.  First  of  all  he  teaches  him  the 
philosophy  of  life,  adapting  the  lesson  to  the  patient's 
mental  status.  Then  he  elucidates  the  power  of 
the  mind  over  somatic  functions,  and  builds  up  the 


122    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED   TO  MEDICINE 

patient's  confidence,  by  seizing  upon  and  emphasiz- 
ing every  evidence  of  success  in  the  relief  of  dis- 
tressing symptoms. 

There  is  something  almost  naive  in  the  absolute 
candor  with  which  he  treats  his  patient,  and  as  one 
turns  the  pages  of  his  book  he  is  conscious  of  a 
feehng  of  chagrin  in  discovering  that  the  laborious 
and  roundabout  methods  of  our  ordinary  use  of 
psychotherapy  are  usually  superfluous. 

Upon  special  occasions,  he  has  recourse  to  hyp- 
notism and  a-hypnotic  suggestion  of  the  Bemheim 
type.  ^ 

While  he  believes  that  nervous  diseases  are  essen- 
tially mental  in  origin,  and  should  therefore  be 
treated  by  mental  means,  he  nevertheless  uses  drugs 
for  special  emergencies. 

Isolation  of  the  patient  from  family  and  friends 
and  the  almost  routine  use  of  the  Weir  Mitchell 
rest  treatment  are  very  important  factors  of  his 
success,  but  "  the  only  thing  that  will  assure  the 
future  of  the  patient  is  a  rational  moraUzing  psy- 
chotherapy which  will  change  the  psychopathic 
mentality   which   has   determined   his   symptoms. 

Doctor  Anderson,  medical  director  of  Yale  gy 
nasium,  has  constructed  a  table  finely  balanced, 
which  the  student  lies  down  upon  his  back.  The 
center  of  gravity  is  determined  and  then  some 
problem  is  given  him  to  solve.  That  blood  rushes 
to  the  head  is  proved  by  a  rise  in  the  center  of  gravity 
toward  the  head.    If,   on   the  other   hand,   he   is 


SCOPE   OF   PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS       123 

told  to  go  thru  a  leg  exercise  mentally,  not  really 
moving  a  muscle,  the  center  goes  toward  the  feet, 
showing  the  mental  control  of  the  blood  supply. 

The  possibility  of  either  raising  or  lowering  the 
rate  of  the  heart  by  suggestion  to  the  hypnotized 
individual  has  been  previously  mentioned  in  the 
chapter  on  the  "  Phenomena  of  Hypnosis."  If 
the  trophic  and  nutritional  centers  are  under  the 
control  of  the  subconscious,  one  is  not  justified  in 
concluding,  a  priori,  that  regenerative  eflfects  — 
organic  diseases  —  are  beyond  the  possibilities  of 
psychotherapeutics. 

Psychotherapeutics  is  not  a  panacea.  —  The  ques- 
tion as  to  what  extent  the  physician  should  make 
use  of  this  valuable  accessory  to  his  armamentarium 
must  be  left  entirely  to  his  individual  judgment  and 
experience.  The  same  statement  apphes  as  to  how 
much  surgery  he  should  do.  It  takes  courage  and 
self-rehance  openly  to  advocate  and  practise  it. 
One  will  undoubtedly  be  misunderstood  by  many 
of  his  professional  brethren  and  by  many  of  his 
patients.  He  may  gain  an  unenviable  reputation 
of   having  discarded   all   physico-ihtrdi'^y. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  reputation  of  being  versed 
in  the  methods  of  mental  healing  may  save  one 
many  a  patient  who  would  otherwise  seek  his  psycho- 
therapy elsewhere.  Had  the  profession  taken  a 
more  friendly  attitude  toward  the  subject  the 
"  metaphysician  "  would  have  less  reason  for  exist- 
ence. 


124    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

While  it  is  unwise  and  an  encroachment  upon 
individual  liberty  to  attempt  by  legislation  to  prevent 
the  various  forms  of  mental  healers  from  practising, 
it  would  certainly  be  conducive  to  public  welfare 
if  the  healing  art  in  all  its  branches  were  confined 
to  properly  educated  and  hcensed  practitioners  of 
medicine.  Those  who  know  its  Umitations  would 
not  waste  valuable  time  in  futile  attempts  at  psycho- 
therapy, while  the  disease  was  passing  beyond  the 
curable  or  operable  stage. 

There  is  a  class  of  physicians  to-day  which 
reiterates  the  verdict  of  the  French  Academy,  "  all 
due  to  the  imagination,"  mth  a  sneer  of  contempt. 
Granting  this  therapeutic  power  of  the  imagination, 
does  it  not  behoove  the  profession  to  make  of  it  an 
ally,  instead  of  allowing  it  "to  go  about  seeking 
whom  it  may  devour?  "  Is  our  success  so  universal 
with  old  chronic  cases  that  any  means  known  to  be 
curative  can  be  ignored? 


CHAPTER    IX 

SUMMARY 

The  psychic  element  in  the  practise  of  medicine.  —  The  person- 
ality of  the  physician.  —  Genuine  good  -  will.  —  Healthful 
suggestions.  —  Suggestions  adverse  to  health. —  Diet. —  Sug- 
gestion present  in  all  forms  of  therapeutics :  in  surgery,  in 
refraction,  in  electrotherapy,  in  massage,  in  materia  medica. — 
The  hidden  suggestion.  —  Popular  belief  in  efficacy  of  drugs. 
—  "  Post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc."  —  "  It  cured  me."  —  Profession 
not  given  to  critical  analysis.  —  Responsible  for  erroneous 
theories. —  Shattuck  :  "Some  of  our  patients  get  well."  — 
Flint's  law,  the  natural  history  of  disease.  —  Percy :  eight 
therapeutic  influences :  (a)  Natural  history  of  the  morbid 
processes ;  (b)  The  recuperative  energies  of  the  organism ;  (c) 
The  favorable  agencies  of  hygiene;  (,d)  The  power  of  per. 
sonal  magnetism,  in  the  practitioner  ;  (e)  Suggestion  and  auto- 
suggestion ;  {/)  Faith;  (g)  Courage;  {h)  Drugs. —  Attempt  to 
eliminate  suggestion  from  drug  pathogenesis. —  The  reprov- 
ing by  the  Am.  Horn.  O.  O.  and  L.  Soc.  —  The  placebo,  a 
vehicle  of  suggestion. 

THE  PSYCHIC  ELEMENT  IN  THE  PRACTISE  OF  MEDICINE 

—  Perhaps  the  most  potent  means  of  giving  health- 
ful suggestion  is  the  personaHty  of  the  physician 
himself.  How  often  one  hears  a  patient  remark  of 
his  beloved  physician :  "It  does  me  good  to  see 
him  come  in." 

Learning  and  medical  skill  are  certainly  desirable 
qualities,  but  unless  optimism  and  p^ejiialitv  are  part 

125 


126    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

of  his  equipment  one  had  better  confine  himself 
to  laboratory  and  didactic  medicine. 

Brilliant  scholarship  never  made  a  successful 
practitioner.  Genuine  good  nature,  a  hopeful 
manner,  and  an  honest  desire  to  relieve  suffering 
humanity  should  be  cultivated  to  their  fullest  degree. 
If  the  study  of  mental  physiology  does  nothing  more 
than  to  inculcate  this  principle  into  the  very  fiber 
of  one's  being,  it  will  have  served  no  mean  purpose. 

The  selection  of  a  certain  physician  presupposes  a 
special  confidence  in  his  skill.  Whether  the  means 
employed  be  drugs,  surgery,  or  orthopedics,  a  lack 
of  this  confidence  seriously  cripples  his  efforts.— 

On  the  wall  of  a  sanitarium  near  Boston  is  the 
following  stanza : 

"  Talk  Health,  the  dreary,  never  ending  tale 

Of  mortal  maladies  is  worn  and  stale. 

You  cannot  charm  or  interest  or  please 

By  harping  on  the  minor  chord  —  disease. 

Say  you  are  well,  or  all  is  well  with  you, 

And  God  shall  hear  the  words  and  make  them  true  to  you." 

The  author  has  changed  the  last  two  lines  as 
follows  : 

When  asked  if  well,  if  not  too  ill,  say  "  yes," 
And  haply,  e'en  this  slight  untruth  may  bless. 

The  stanza  is  printed  on  a  small  card  which  is 
frequently  given  to  a  patient  inclined  to  hypo- 
chondria, with  the  suggestion  that  he  take  it  home. 
It  sometimes  occasions  a  smile,  but  I  firmly  beUeve 
that  great  good  is  accomphshcd. 


SUGGESTIONS   ADVERSE    TO   HEALTH        127 

Hudson,  in  "  Law  of  Mental  Medicine,"  shows 
how  nearly  all  our  articles  of  diet,  one  after  another, 
have  come  to  be  regarded  as  unhealthful.  The 
physician  is  prone  to  assume  that  the  particular 
food  which  causes  indigestion  in  himself  must  there- 
fore be  harmful  to  others,  and  warns  all  his  patients 
and  friends  against  eating  it.  There  is  a  widespread 
failure  to  reaUze  that  "  one  man's  meat  is  another's 
poison."  When  two  or  three  happen  to  agree  upon 
the  indigestibleness  of  anything,  and  repeat  their 
fears  to  one  who  indulges  it,  the  suggestion  is  apt 
to  be  accepted  by  the  subhminal  consciousness,  and 
the  normal  secretion  of  the  digestive  ferments  may 
be  inhibited,  and  another  witness  against  the  inno- 
cent offender  is  gained. 

Conning  over  the  symptoms  of  disease  often 
leads  to  a  morbid  introspection,  which  is  a  veritable 
looking  for  trouble.  The  quack  advertiser  is  keen 
enough  to  use  this  method  of  malevolent  suggestion, 
and  thus  lures  his  victim,  at  least,  into  the  sympto- 
matology of  a  chronic  disease. 

Interwoven  with  all  forms  of  physical  therapeutics 
are  the  threads  of  suggestions.  These  are  obtained 
from  the  direct  statements  of  the  physician,  from 
his  manner  whether  hopeful  or  discouraged,  and 
also  from  the  preconceived  ideas  of  the  patient. 

The  recovery  from  morbid  symptoms  which 
frequently  follows  a  simple  anesthetizing  with  pre- 
tended surgical  interference,  or  simply  exploratory 
incision,  is  so  well  recognized  that  we  are  apt  to 


128    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

lose  sight  of  its  significance.  In  mechanical  thera- 
peutics the  suggestive  element  is  less  conspicuous, 
but  frequent  examples  have  occurred  in  the  prac- 
tise of  the  writer. 

A  patient  came  with  well-marked  symptoms  of 
eye-strain,  glasses  were  prescribed,  and  the  symptoms 
entirely  disappeared.  Leaving  off  the  glasses  would 
cause  a  return  of  symptoms,  again  wearing  them 
the  pain  ceased.  The  case  was  one  of  astigmia,  and 
the  lenses  for  the  two  eyes  were  quite  different. 
At  a  subsequent  visit,  there  having  been  no  return 
of  the  symptoms,  it  was  discovered  that,  in  repairing 
the  frames,  the  optician  had  carelessly  transposed 
the  lenses,  and  yet  the  patient  felt  sure  that  she  could 
not  get  along  without  her  glasses.  They  were  a 
positive  detriment  to  vision  when  in  the  wrong 
positions. 

Probably  no  physician  who  has  used  electricity 
has  failed  to  note  the  suggestive  element.  Undoubt- 
edly the  buzzing  of  the  faradic  current  and  the 
sparking  of  the  high  frequency  make  these  forms 
especially  potent. 

Massage  calls  the  patient's  attention  to  the  part 
rubbed.  Is  it  unreasonable,  in  the  light  of  Doctor 
Anderson's  experiments,  previously  mentioned,  to 
assume  that  the  subliminal  can  be  thus  roused  to 
greater  therapeutic  power? 

When  we  come  to  the  realm  of  materia  medica 
we  find  such  a  confusion  of  "  post  hoc  "  and  "  prop- 
ter hoc  "  that  there  is  the  greatest  diversity  of  opinion 


SUGGESTION   IN   MEDICINE  129 

among  the  profession  concerning  the  value  of  drugs 
as  a  whole,  and  what  drugs  are  indicated  in  certain 
conditions  or  diseases,  and  by  what  rule  this  shall 
be  determined,  instead  of  depending  on  the  empir- 
icism which  has  led  so  many  into  sloughs  of  despair 
in  the  past. 

Of  the  various  sects,  homeopathy  has  grown  to 
be  a  respectable  minority  of  the  body  medical.  Here 
too,  as  with  the  other  school,  is  a  recognition  of  this 
misleading  principle.  Dr.  William  C.  Goodno,  pro- 
fessor of  medicine  in  Hahnemann  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia,  is  quoted  as  saying :  "  There  is  a  serious 
weakness  of  many  of  our  workers  in  materia  medica 
in  the  way  of  creduHty.  The  greed  for  provings 
leads  many  able  men  to  accept  too  readily  symptoms 
having  a  most  doubtful  relationship  to  the  drug 
supposed    to    cause    them."' 

This  does  not  mean  that  drugs  are  not  curative, 
but  it  does  imply  that,  in  this  department,  medicine 
is  still  more  of  an  art  than  a  science. 

We  have  a  few  specifics,  and  a  growing  Ust  of 
drugs  scientifically  adapted  to  cure  certain  morbid 
conditions.  A  very  commendable  effort  has  been 
made  to  put  the  homeopathic  materia  medica  on 
the  same  basis. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Homeopathic 
Ophthalmological,  Otological,  and  Laryngological 
Society,  with  the  cooperation  of  the  national  and 
several  State  societies,  the  effect  of  belladonna  on 

'  Medical  Visitor. 


130    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

the  human  system  and  on  animals  has  been  exhaust- 
ively studied  by  a  method  originated  by  Prof.  H.  P. 
Bellows  of  Boston.^ 

In  order  that  the  suggestive  element  might  be 
entirely  ehminated,  only  one  person  in  each  of  the 
eleven  cities  where  the  experiments  were  made  knew 
what  drug  was  being  administered.  The  subjects 
experimented  upon  were  examined  by  speciaHsts 
in  each  department  before,  during,  and  after  the 
tests.  The  most  approved  scientific  methods  were 
used  to  determine  the  objective  symptoms,  and  only 
such  subjective  symptoms  were  accepted  as  trust- 
worthy as  were  experienced  by  a  majority  of  the 
provers. 

The  chapter  on  "  The  Effects  of  Belladonna  upon 
Animal  Tissues  "  is  contributed  by  Dr.  Solomon  C. 
Fuller,  pathologist  of  the  Westboro  (Mass.)  Insane 
Hospital. 

The  experiments  were  carried  out  in  a  thoroly 
scientific  manner,  and  the  work  is  a  valuable  contri- 
bution to  toxicology.  In  this  department  suggestion 
was  certainly  eliminated. 

THE   HIDDEN  SUGGESTION 

Since  the  days  of  Galen  the  race  has  been  more 
and  more  imbued  with  the  idea  of  the  efficacy  of 
drugs,  till  to-day  a  little  sugar  pill  is  loaded  with  the 
suggested  efficacy  of  generations.  This  it  is  which 
gives  the  successes  of  the  quack  "  cure-alls."    Given 

'  Test  Proving  of  the  O.  O.  and  L,  Society. 


HIDDEN  SUGGESTION  131 

sufficient  advertisement,  and  a  pungent  taste  or 
smell,  and  the  testimonials  are  soon  forthcoming. 

To  cure  "  speedily,  gently,  and  permanently," 
is  the  desideratum  of  the  medicine.  Having  obtained 
this  result,  we  are  all  of  us  prone  to  rest  content, 
and  have  little  interest  in  studying  our  cases  critically 
to  determine  if  the  particular  means  employed  were 
the  effective  agent.  Most  diseases  are  self-limited, 
and  we  all  admit  in  the  vis  medicatrix  naturce  a 
powerful  ally.  We  are  also  thankful  for  any  psychic 
element  which  may  have  contributed  to  the  happy 
result. 

So  long  as  the  average  physician  exhibits  this 
frame  of  mind,  can  we  wonder  that  Christian  Science 
and  mental  heahng  are  gathering  adherents  from 
the  most  intelligent  class  of  the  laity? 

It  is  this  principle  of  post  hoc  ergo  propter  hoc 
which  has  established  (?)  so  many  misconceptions 
and  false  theories  as  truths.  Most  Christian  Scien- 
tists whom  I  have  met  are  sure  of  their  science 
because  they  have  been  cured.  The  theory  has  been 
accepted  because  "  it  cured  me." 

Some  one  has  facetiously  remarked  that  there 
are  "  three  kinds  of  lies :  white  lies,  black  lies,  and 
statistics,"  and  to  a  certain  extent  this  is  undoubt- 
edly true.  Statistics  often  fail  to  tell  the  "  whole 
truth,"  altho  they  may  tell  "  nothing  but  the 
truth." 

In  order  to  add  to  the  sum  of  human  knowledge, 
the  statistician  must  possess  a  judicial  mind,  and 


132     PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

must  never  allow  his  preconceptions  or  his  inclina- 
tions to  influence  him  "  to  make  up  a  case." 

Dr.  Austin  Flint  was  one  of  the  first  to  enunciate 
a  principle  which  is  truly  scientific.  He  advocated 
a  more  careful  study  of  the  natural  history  of  disease, 
the  average  duration  of  a  large  number  of  cases  of  a 
given  malady  when  no  medicine  was  given.  Then 
he  compared  vdth  this  the  average  of  an  equal  num- 
ber of  cases  of  the  same  disease,  where  medical 
treatment  was  had,  contending  that  unless  the  dura- 
tion or  severity  or  mortality  was  less  under  treat- 
ment than  without,  one  was  not  warranted  in  con- 
cluding that  his  interference  had  been  beneficial. 

Happily  this  inference  is  generally  justifiable. 
Granting  this  to  be  true,  a  second  question  is  pre- 
sented to  the  candid  truth-seeker,  viz.:  What  was 
the  curative  agent? 

■ — ^Dr.  F.  B.  Percy,  professor  of  materia  medica, 
Boston  University  School  of  Medicine,  says :  "  Let 
us  admit  from  the  beginning  that  in  the  cure  of  the 
sick  many  influences  must  be  considered. 

**  (a)   Natural  history  of  morbid  processes. 

"  (&)    The  recuperative  energies  of  the  organism. 

"  (c)    The  favorable  agencies  of  hygiene. 

"  {d)   The  power  of  personal  magnetism  in  the 
practitioner. 
^^'^(e)    Suggestion  and  auto-suggestion. 

"(/)    Faith. 

"  {g)  Courage. 

"(/i)  Drugs. 


HIDDEN   SUGGESTION  133 

''  Here  then  is  the  problem  which  faces  every 
fair-minded  man,  to  apportion  to  each  of  these 
influences  its  due  weight."  ^ 

Four  of  the  above  list,  namely :  {d)  The  power 
of  personal  magnetism  in  the  practitioner,  {e)  Sugges- 
tion and  auto-suggestion,  (/)  Faith,  {g)  Courage,  are 
e\ddently  psychic  influences. 

While  it  is  difficult  to  eHminate  suggestion  from 
practical  therapeutics,  and  indeed  undesirable  so  to 
do  after  ha\ang  established  therapeutic  facts,  it  is 
easy  by  the  placebo  to  eliminate  the  drug.  The 
practical  man  takes  things  as  he  finds  them  and 
makes  the  best  of  them.  The  majority  of  one's 
patients  believe  in  the  unlimited  efficacy  of  drugs, 
so  the  practical  disciple  of  suggestion  will  recognize 
in  the  placebo  a  pre  existent  vehicle  for  sug- 
gestion. 

There  should  be  as  much  care,  and  precise  instruc- 
tions given,  as  tho  one  were  administering  toxic 
medicine.  The  patient  catches  from  one's  manner 
a  suggestion  as  to  the  powerfulness  of  the  drug. 

The  late  Prof.  J.  Heber  Smith  was  accustomed  to 
advise :  "  Until  you  have  studied  your  case  care- 
fully, use  a  placebo." 

The  late  Prof.  Conrad  Wesselhoeft  once  remarked 
of  a  certain  high  dilutionist,  who  always  said 
"  There  "  as  he  flicked  the  powder  on  the  patient's 
tongue,  "  There  was  more  medicine  in  the  '  There  ' 
than  there  was  in  the  powder."  — 

'  Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  March  20,  1906. 


134    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

Dr.  Frederick  C.  Shattuck,  professor  of  clinical 
medicine,  Harvard  Medical  School,  says :  "  Let  us 
use  suggestion  as  far  as  is  necessary  to  subserve  the 
best  interest  of  our  patients ;  but  let  us  strive  vdthout 
ceasing  to  separate  in  our  own  minds  mere  sugges- 
tion from  actual  drug  action.  Few  are  capable  of 
either  imparting  or  receiving  a  suggestion  strong 
enough  to  prevent  a  hypodermic  of  apomorphia  from 
producing  active  emesis,  or  zinc  sulphate  given  by 
the  mouth  for  that  matter.  But  we  have  all  seen 
cases  in  which  the  patient  was  relieved  by  a  hypo- 
dermic of  plain  water,  which  he  or  she  believed  to 
contain  morphia."' 

CONCLUSIONS 

The  psychic  element  is  present  in  all  therapeutics, 
even  in  surgery,  refraction,  electrotherapy,  and 
massage. 

It  is  the  therapeutic  element  in  Christian  Science, 
mental  healing,  etc. 

It  and  not  the  drug  is  probably  the  active  agent 
in  most  cures  by  quack  medicines. 

//  and  not  the  drug  is  probably  the  active  agent 
in  many  medicines  prescribed  by  qualified  physi- 
cians. 

It  is  impossible  to  ehminate  it  from  any  form  of 
therapeutics. 
""The  majority  of  humanity  is  so  constituted  that 

^Boston  Med.  and  Surg.  Journal,  March  20,  1906.  The 
Value  of  Drugs  in  Therapeutics. 


PATENT  MEDICINES  135 

the  "  placebo  "  is  the  most  feasible  form  of  admin- 
istering suggestion. 

There  is  another  side,  however,  to  the  placebo 
question.  Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot,  instructor  in 
medicine,  Harvard  Medical  School,  has  stated  the 
case  very  forcibly. 

"  Drug  therapeutics  in  cases  in  which  drugs  do 
no  good  represent  either  mental  fatigue  or  mental 
myopia  on  the  part  of  the  physician:  sometimes 
mental  fatigue,  because  the  easiest  thing  one  can 
do  for  a  patient  when  tired  is  to  write  a  prescrip- 
tion; sometimes  mental  myopia,  which  prevents 
the  physician  from  seeing  that  the  habit  of  gi\ang 
placebos  and  of  prescribing  a  medicine  for  every 
symptom  leads  straight  to  the  '  patent  medicine  ' 
habit.  - 

"  Why  do  people  take  '  patent  medicines '  and 
expect  us  to  give  them  a  drug  for  every  symptom? 
They  were  not  bom  with  a  desire  for  nauseous  mix- 
tures. They  acquired  it  under  instruction,  ulti- 
mately our  instruction.  From  the  patient's  point 
of  view  the  net  result  of  the  doctor's  expensive 
visits  is  too  often  a  row  of  medicine  bottles  on  the 
shelf.  The  thrifty  patient  thinks  he  sees  a  way  to 
get  the  net  result  of  the  doctor's  efforts  without  so 
much  expense.  Why  not  save  the  middleman,  he 
says  to  himself,  and  get  the  goods  direct  ?  So  arises 
the  habit  of  going  to  the  apothecaries  or  to  the  '  pat- 
ent medicine  '  vendors  for  a  cure.  When  we  stop 
giving  placebos,  cease  acting  as  middlemen  for  drug- 


136    PSYCHOLOGY  APPLIED  TO  MEDICINE 

makers,  and  admit  to  their  rightful  place  the  non- 
medicinal  branches  of  therapeutics,  we  shall  deal 
a  powerful  blow  at  the  *  patent  medicine  '  evil." ' 

Plato  says :  "  Beauty  we  love  best  because  we  see 
her  clearest.  Wisdom  with  bodily  eyes  we  cannot  see 
or  terrible  had  been  the  loves  she  had  inspired." 

^Journal  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  June  2,  1906. 


THE   END. 


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The  Human  Body,  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York. 
137 


138  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

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Index 


Ameba,  Sensation  of,  3. 

Anesthesia,  Hypnotic,  71  ;  Esdaile,  72;  Author,  83;    Earl,  84. 
Animal  sagacity,  Burroughs,  6-8  ;  James,  9-1 1. 
Animal  magnetism,  96-98. 
Bellows,  Prof.  H.  P.,  Drug  proving,  130. 
Bernheim,  74,  117. 
Bramwell,  75,  84,  92. 
Blind  spots,  55-56. 
Braid,  James,  66,  72,  99,  100,  102. 
Burroughs,  John,  Do  animals  reason  ?  6-10. 
Cabot,  Dr.  Richard  C,  Medicine  habit,  135. 
Cerebration  accompanied  by  association  of  nerve  cells,  2. 
Charcot,  Hysteria,  78,  loo,  loi. 
Christian  Science,  112. 
Concept,  Etymology  and  definition  of,  12. 

Consciousness,  Facts  of,  3 ;  Of  environment,  3 ;  The  moment,  24. 
Controlled  reading  device,  Author's,  64. 
Decentration,  31. 

Distance,  Estimation  of.  Monocular,  57  ;  Binocular,  62. 
Dreams,  Dissociation,  25  ;  Causes  of,  25,  26 ;  Duration  of,  27-28. 
Dubois,  Psychic  treatment,  1 21-122. 
Eddy,  Mrs.  Mary  Baker,  112. 
Farlow,  Christian  Science,  112. 
Fiske,  John,  Cosmic  philosophy,  39. 
Flint,  Natural  history  of  disease,  132. 
Fuller,  Dr.  S.  C,  Toxicology,  130. 
Genius,  The  unaccountable,  32-33. 
Goodno,  Prof.  William  C,  Credulity,  129. 
Gregory,  Prof.  William,  Animal  magnetism,  96-98. 
139 


I40  INDEX 

Habit,  Founded  on  instinct,  17;  Age  of  forming,  17;  Economic 
value  of,  19;  Of  reading,  20. 

Hudson,  Law  of  mental  medicine,  127. 

Hypnotism  —  Historical,  66-76;  Mesmer,  67-69;  Eliotson,  71;  Es- 
daile,  72;  Braid,  72,  73;  Liebeault,  74 ;  Bernheim,  74;  Bram- 
well,  75;  Quackenboss,  75;  Sidis,  75;  Charcot,  100,  102; 
Wetterstrand,  120,  121. 

Hypnotism  —  Anesthesia,  71,72, 83, 84 ;  Methods,  76-78 ;  Suscep- 
tibility, 78-80;  Phenomena,  81-84  ;  Theories,  96-107. 

Instinct,  Animal,  5 ;  Common  to  man  and  beast,  6 ;  The  basis 
of  habit,  14. 

Inverted  image  and  erect  vision,  43-54 ;  Foster's  explanation, 
43 ;  Martin's  explanation,  44 ;  PouUaine's  explanation,  52- 
53;  Souter's  explanation,  53-54;  Author's  explanation, 
46-50. 

James,  Prof.  William,  2;  Animal  sagacity,  9-1 1. 

Ladd,  Professor,  Definition  of  psychology,  i. 

Memory,  Method  of  cultivating,  21. 

Mesmer,  67-70. 

Metaphysical  healing,  Newcomb,  113-114;  Whipple,  114-116. 

Moment  consciousness,  Sidis,  24. 

Myers,  W.  H.  H.,  The  subconscious,  103. 

Newcomb,  Charles,  Metaphysical  healer,  113-114. 

Nancy  school,  102. 

Patent  medicine  habit,  135. 

Percy,  Prof.  F.  B.,  Curative  influences,  132. 

Perspective,  Stereoscopic,  63. 

Petersen,  Dr.  Henrik  G.,  A-hypnotic  suggestion,  117. 

Prince,  Dr.  Morton,  Dissociation  of  a  personality,  105. 

Preyer,  Infantile  instincts,  16. 

Protoplasm,  Sensation  of,  3. 

Psychic  element  in  medicine,  125-135. 

Psychic  Research  Society,  106. 

Psychotherapeutics,  108-124;  Scope  of,  120-123. 

Pulse,  Hypnotic  control  of,  85. 

Putnam,  Prof.  James  J.,  120. 

Quackenboss,  Dr.  John  D.,  Intemperance,  121. 

Reading  habits,  20. 

Reason  in  animals,  Burroughs,  6-10. 


INDEX  141 

Reason,  An  attribute  of  man  alone,  5. 
Reason  and  instinct,  4. 

Reasoning,  Deductive,  of  hypnotic  state,  87  ;  Inductive,  of  nor- 
mal state,  87. 
Recepts,  Definition  and  examples,  12;  Acquired  instincts,  13. 
Reflexes,  Congenital  and  acquired,  15. 
Relativity,  Doctrine  of,  36-39. 
Retinal  shadows  inverted,  56. 
Royal  Touch,  Historical,  no,  iii. 
Salpetriere  school,  100,  102. 
Sensation  of  protoplasm,  3. 
Shattuck,  Prof.  F.  C,  Suggestion,  134. 

Sidis.The  moment  consciousness,  24  ;  Dreams,  25;  Decentration, 
32;  Epilepsy,  120;  Suggestion,  75,  103. 

Special  senses.  Evolution  of,  35. 

Spencer  on  heredity,  14. 

Sight,  refinement  of  touch,  42 ;  Experimental  psychology,  55-63. 

Stereoscope,  Phoro-optometer,  64. 

Subconscious  cerebration.  Examples  of,  30. 

Subconscious  mind,  Habits  of,  22  ;  Education  of,  29-30 ;  Myers, 
103. 

SubUminal  cerebration,  23,  32-33,  103. 

Suggestion,  Post-hypnotic,  88-90 ;  Improper,  not  accepted,  91- 
92 ;  Criminal,  93. 

Sutherland,  Professor,  Definition  nervous  system,  3. 

Tactile  sense,  precedes  others,  41. 

Telepathy,  34. 

Test  proving,  belladonna,  129-130. 

Thought,  not  molecular  motion,  2. 

Tyndall,  Brain  and  consciousness,  3. 

Vision,  Erect  with  inverted  image,  43-54' 

Weismann,  Heredity,  14. 

Wetterstrand,  Hypnotic  practise,  120. 

Whipple,  Leander  Edmund,  Metaphysical  healer,  114-116. 
White,  Andrew  D.,  1 10. 


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